To The Winner
by jumpin
Summary: Seven and B'Elanna hate each other, and are forced into fighting each other on an away mission and Seven ends up becoming B'Elanna's servant
1. Chakotay's Arrogance

To the Winner

Chapter One

"Captain we are being haled by the Garians," Harry said looking up from his station.

"On screen," Janeway said sitting up.

"Hello and welcome to Garia. I am minister Tuplac, and I welcome you to our planet. You are cleared for landing on platform beta Z in five hours," the alien said.

"It's good to talk to you again Tuplac," Chakotay said smiling. "I look forward to meeting with you."

"Will you be joining us as well Captain?" Tuplac asked.

"I am afraid not minister. I have already made plans to stay at the Trodaz resort. I heard it was quite lovely this time of year."

"You have heard correctly Captain," Tuplac said smiling. "I hope you enjoy our resorts."

"So Chakotay. Who will be joining you?"

"I will be putting an away team together shortly, but you should expect B'Elanna Torres the chief engineer, Harry Kim the opps officer, and Seven of nine the astrometrics officer."

"I look forwards to meeting you all," Tuplac said as he closed the link.

"I know I said you could pick your own away team Commander, but Seven and B'Elanna? Are you sure you know what you are doing?" Janeway asked.

"I have everything under control Captain. It is about time those two started getting along, and this is the perfect way to do it," Chakotay said smiling.

"I hope you know what you are doing Commander," Janeway warned. "If those two create a problem planet side then you will be the one to pay for it."

"I'm sure that everything is going to go smoothly Captain," Chakotay said standing up. "If you will excuse me Captain I will assemble my away team."

"How about it Harry? Do you feel up to some exploring?" Chakotay asked.

"Sure Commander," Harry said smiling.

"Meet me in transporter room two in one hour," Chakotay said leaving the bridge.

Chakotay first made his way to astrometrics. _"This should be easy enough, Seven usually follows orders pretty well," _Chakotay thought as he entered astrometrics.

Seven turned around from her work to see Commander Chakotay enter. "Hello Commander," Seven said stopping her work.

"Seven meet me in transporter room two in forty-five minutes. We are going planet side," Chakotay said getting ready to leave.

"I do not wish to leave Commander. I am running a sensor scan of the planet," Seven said as she returned to her work.

"You will be able to examine the planet first hand on the away mission," Chakotay said.

"I do not wish to be part of this away mission. There is nothing on the planet I find of interest."

"This is an order Seven, I want you in transporter room two in time to leave, unless you want the Captain to find out you aren't following orders again," Chakotay threatened.

"I will comply," Seven said as she saved her work.

"Good," Chakotay said as he left astrometrics and made his way to engineering. _"So much for the easy part," _Chakotay thought. _"Now how do I convince B'Elanna to go as well? I'm sure I'll think of something," _he thought smiling.

Chakotay entered engineering not really looking where he was going. A large group of the engineering staff was standing in a circle, so he decided to find out what was going on. Chakotay pushed a couple of people aside as he made his way to the center of the circle.

"What is going on here?" Chakotay asked looking around.

"What the hell?" B'Elanna shouted as she ran up to Chakotay and pushed him out of the way.

A second after B'Elanna pushed Chakotay a red beam of light shot out of the machine the engineering crew were working on and struck B'Elanna.

For a moment B'Elanna just stood there and blinked a couple of times. Her head felt strange, it was like her brain had been asleep, and it was only now that it was beginning to wake up. She was able to remember conversations she had years ago in perfect clarity, like it only happened a few moments ago.

"Are you okay?" Carey asked B'Elanna.

"Yeah, I'm fine," B'Elanna said as she began to look herself over. Everything seemed to be in place and she was breathing normally.

"What the hell was that B'Elanna?" Chakotay asked from the floor.

"That was an experiment that took six ours to set up, which you ruined in less than six seconds," B'Elanna said remembering the cause of the accident.

"Watch your tone B'Elanna," Chakotay said standing up. "I am still your commanding officer."

B'Elanna was seething. Chakotay came into engineering and completely ruined her experiment, and didn't even have the decency to apologize. She didn't know when it started but over the last couple of years Chakotay had become a little too vain. He was always throwing his weight around and expecting people to bend over backwards for him.

"What do you want?" B'Elanna asked ignoring his earlier comment.

"We're going on an away mission, meet me in transporter room two in half an hour," Chakotay said getting ready to leave.

"What are you talking about? I'm not going. I have to set up this experiment again."

"This is not negotiable B'Elanna. I need you on that away mission," Chakotay said as he left engineering.

"Don't worry about it," Carey told B'Elanna. It's going to take us a while to set up the experiment again. We should have it ready for when you come back from the away mission."

"Fine," B'Elanna said relenting as she went to get ready for the away mission.

Chakotay was already waiting with Harry in the transporter room when Seven arrived. "Who is the other member of the away team?" Seven asked.

As if in answer to her question the doors opened again to admit B'Elanna Torres. She took one look around the room before her eyes settled on Seven. "You can't be serious."

"Look, I need the two of you to be civil to each other. It's high time the two of you learned to get along," Chakotay said. He didn't have to say it but everyone that heard him knew it was only so he could put another feather in his cap. If he could make Seven and B'Elanna stop fighting he assumed people would respect him more.

"If you put us both on an away mission together it will most definitely cause an international incident, one that you will have no one to blame for but yourself," Seven stated.

"For once I have to agree with the Borg," B'Elanna said smirking.

"I have already told you that this was not up for discussion, and if anything does happen the two of you will be held responsible. Now everybody on the teleporter," Chakotay said moving onto the pad.

B'Elanna and Seven eyed each other warily before they stepped onto the teleporter as well. Neither of them knew how they were going to survive the trip without at least an argument.

As soon as the away team materialized they were greeted by minister Tuplac. He greeted them all warmly. "Welcome to Garia. I have arranged a tour of our stadium. You are just in time for the Lodqu'sa."

"Lodqu'sa? What's that?" Harry asked with a friendly smile.

"It is an ancient competition that goes back thousands of years in our culture. Traditionally it was held when two people had a deep personal conflict with another. A win is decided by either points, knock out, or surrender." Tuplac summarized for them.

"Your competition appears barbaric for a species as advanced as yours." Seven replied bluntly, earning her a glare of embarrassment from Chakotay, and Harry's cheeks to redden.

Surprisingly Tuplac didn't take offense to it, in fact he laughed. "Forgive me, I am not explaining as well as I could be. The Lodqu'sa is not about war, but rather peace. It was traditionally fought by Kings of equal power, and political strength. This way one person gets a few bruises, instead of thousands dying for a cause they truly don't believe in."

"You're very similar to democratic government aren't you?" B'Elanna asked. "What possible reason could you have to continue with this competition?" B'Elanna also earned a glare from Chakotay. He considered himself to be the explorer of different cultures, and to put it simply he was getting jealous.

"It is now mainly out of tradition that people compete. When one province has a dispute with another they usually wait for the Lodqu'sa. We have found a way to eliminate the physiological effect of the competition, so it is mostly out of honor that the defeated abides by the wishes of the victor." Tuplac explained.

"Physiological effect?" Chakotay asked curiously. _'This could be the perfect way for B'Elanna and Seven to get along.' _He thought.

"Yes, we have discovered that a micro organism effects exists in the oxygen of our planet. We have not figured out how they came to exist, yet they are able to form mental connections with individuals, that last up to a maximum of one year. They are of course perfectly harmless in this day and age." Tuplac said as he noticed the nervous glances of his guests. "The connection is easily dissolved with carboxacide, which is an odorless gas we mix with the oxygen in the stadium after each competition. Neither one will harm any of you. Your doctor has examined both, and agrees with our doctors." Tuplac placated them.

"So there are no negative effects at all?" Chakotay asked, as a plan began to form in his head.

"No actually we find the residual effects quite positive. Both competitors gain a better understanding of their adversaries, and in the long run get along much better with each other. More often than not the competitors become life long friends." Tuplac added.

"Can anyone compete?" Chakotay asked.

"The competition is intended for everyone." Tuplac said, not understanding where this was going.

"What are you planning?" B'Elanna asked, not liking this new direction to the conversation at all.

"How would people be entered into this competition?" Chakotay ignored B'Elanna.

"It is not difficult. I or anyone else with my position in government would only need to authorize it. Are you planning on entering?" Tuplac asked curiously.

"No, no, B'Elanna and Seven are going to be." Chakotay said with a smile. "This is just what they need to get along better."

"I will not comply." Seven said firmly. This was followed by, "What the hell are you on Chakotay," from an agitated B'Elanna.

"You will not use that tone with me Lieutenant. I am your commanding officer and you will do what I say." Chakotay said firmly.

"I feel I must warn you, this is not something to take lightly, but if you need my consent you have." Tuplac said finding the man's behavior a little strange, but who was he to find fault with the customs of another species.

"Are you sure about this Chakotay?" Harry asked. "This is just the kind of thing the Captain warned you about."

"I know what I'm doing Harry." Chakotay dismissed the younger man.

"Look, let me make it simple for you ladies." Chakotay threatened. "You will participate in this competition or you will spend a week in the brig for not following orders from a commanding officer, alone… and with only each other as competition." He threatened.

"I will be filing a complaint against you when we are aboard Voyager." Seven said.

"When this is over you're going to be thanking me." Chakotay said condescendingly.

"I will get you back for this." B'Elanna promised, but she also didn't want to spend a week in the brig with Seven, which she knew she would have to do because no matter what happened it would still be considered disobeying orders.

"When can they start?" Chakotay asked with a smile, knowing that he'd won.

"The competition will start in just a few minutes, if you wish you can be the first." Tuplac offered.

"That would be perfect." Chakotay smiled, while B'Elanna, and Seven glared at him, and Harry looked at the three of them in worry.

"Are you absolutely sure about this Chakotay?" Harry asked as they watched B'Elanna and Seven walk out into the stadium. "I really don't think that the Captain is going to like this." He really didn't want to be around for the Captain's reaction.

"You worry too much Harry." Chakotay said with a laugh. "Seven did fine in the Tukatse tournament, and I know that B'Elanna can fight from her Maquis days."

Chakotay finished just as B'Elanna walked out from the north entrance to the tournament. She had taken off her jacket, and was now only wearing her uniform tank top.

Seven walked out from the south entrance wearing her customary blue bio-suit.

As the symbolic gong was struck the fight began.

Both combatants circled each other, each taking in their opponent, looking for any advantages they could take, and any mistakes they could capitalize on.

Almost a full minute later Seven was the first to strike. She moved forward with a quick jab to B'Elanna's nose.

Everyone could see the surprise in Seven's eyes when not only did the punch not work, but B'Elanna caught the fist in mid air, and with a twist and a spin Seven found her arm locked behind her back.

Seven rolled forward, forcing B'Elanna to let go of her arm as the wind was knocked out of her, at which point Seven quickly put some distance between them to figure out what to do next.

The punch was only meant to test B'Elanna's defenses. She should not have been able to actually catch her fist.

B'Elanna was quick to her feet, too quick from Seven's perspective but she couldn't worry about that now.

Seven had barely any time to react as B'Elanna cut down the distance between them in less than a second.

Even though B'Elanna had a shorter reach than Seven she was able to grab her arm again and put enough force into a hold that it forced Seven to her knees.

Seven wondered where B'Elanna's new strength and speed had come from because no matter how hard she tried even with her implants enhancing her strength B'Elanna's grip was like iron. She could not even break the hold.

As Seven was pondering this B'Elanna released the hold and swept Seven's feet out from under her so she landed on her back.

In the next instant B'Elanna was on top of her and had Seven's arms pinned to the ground by her head, and watched as Seven struggled to break her grip.

Finally after a few moments B'Elanna leaned down until her face was only a few inches from Seven's. "Do you surrender?" She said unable to hold back the smirk on her face. She had finally pulled one over on the Borg.

Seven let out an audible sigh as she turned her head to the side. She obviously could not break B'Elanna's hold, she could barely move as it was. There was only one logical conclusion. "I surrender."

A blue spark of light flashed in between them for a second before they felt the carboxacide fill the air.

It was supposed to break the connection, but it only seemed to make the connection stronger. Finally when the air was cleared B'Elanna picked Seven up in her arms and walked towards the exit.

Chakotay and Harry were on their feet in an instant, and met them at the exit.

Seven was still in B'Elanna's arms, and didn't look like she would be leaving anytime soon.

Tuplac was also right on their heels as they met the two women.

Neither woman was saying anything, but it seemed obvious that something was wrong.

"The mental connection did not break." Tuplac said as he figured it out. "This is not possible both our doctors agreed."

"Two to beam directly to sick bay," was the only thing B'Elanna said as Seven tapped her comm. for her.

The doctor was just preparing for his own shore leave when he noticed Seven and B'Elanna appear in front of him.

"Good lord what have the two of you done now?" The doctor sighed.

"Are you hurt Seven?" The Doctor asked when he noticed that B'Elanna was carrying Seven.

"Something happened on the planet." B'Elanna said for Seven. "You need to examine both of us."

"What happened specifically?" The Doctor asked. "I need to know all the details."

"Chakotay ordered Seven and me to compete in the Lodqu'sa competition. Tuplac said that that the carboxacide was stop us from forming a mental connection, and it didn't work." B'Elanna summarized.

The doctor took out a tricorder and began to scan them both as he grumbled about Chakotay's complete lack of sense, but abruptly stopped as he stared at his tricorder in shock before replicating another one and scanning again only to end up with the same results.

"Doctor to Janeway," the doctor said as he tapped his comm.

"What is it doctor?" Janeway asked somewhat impatiently. More than a little annoyed to have her vacation interrupted.

"You need to return to Voyager… we have a situation, and a possible court martial." The doctor added in slight anger.

"What is it?" Janeway asked as the doctor gained her immediate attention. "Was it Seven and B'Elanna? What happened planet side?"

"Believe me Captain. This is something that you really should hear in person." The doctor said.

"Alright doctor, I'll be there shortly." Janeway said as she closed her link.

"Have a seat." The doctor said as he pointed to the bio-bed.

B'Elanna wordlessly sat down on the bio-bed with a silent Seven now sitting in her lap.

A moment later in a blue shimmer of light an irate Chakotay appeared. "What the hell did you think you two her were doing?" He growled. "You just left me down there with the minister looking like an idiot. The brig is too good for the both of you!"

"That is quite enough Commander." The doctor growled. "This entire mess is your fault."

Another shimmer of light appeared, cutting off Chakotay's retort.

"I am almost afraid to ask what happened doctor." Janeway said as she appeared. "Why are you two sitting like that?" Janeway asked as she looked at B'Elanna and Seven. The very idea of Seven sitting quietly in B'Elanna's lap was hard to rap her head around, even though she was seeing it.

"They have to remain like that for the time being." The doctor said. "It will all become clear when I'm finished." He promised.

"I really hope it does." Janeway said noncommittally.

"B'Elanna did anything else strange happen to you recently?" The doctor asked as tried to make results of his scans.

"There was one thing," B'Elanna offered. "I was hit by a concentrated beam of inverse tacron particles, a little while before the away mission started."

"Inverse tacron particles?" Janeway asked. "Wasn't that the new secondary propulsion system I authorized you to study?"

"Yeah, today was the day we were studying the amount of power it could produce." B'Elanna continued.

"How could you get hit with it?" The doctor interrupted. "I know you take more precautions than that." He admonished.

"I did, and Chakotay walked right into the beam as it was about to fire. I pushed him out of the way, but got caught up in the blast."

"Why didn't you report to sick bay?" The doctor asked.

"Chakotay ordered me on the away mission, and I felt alright."

"Well neither one of you is alright, but your explanation at least allows me to make sense of my scans." The doctor sighed. It didn't look like he was going to get much of a shore leave.

"The inverse tacron particles accelerated your cellular growth. I'm sure you've noticed by know, increased mental capacity, overall strength, and possible increased height.

What you probably didn't notice right away was that it used to be uncontrolled and for the most part random."

"What do you mean used to be uncontrolled?" Janeway asked.

"It goes back to the micro organism in the atmosphere of the planet. When it entered B'Elanna's system and she competed against Seven in the Lodqu'sa, for lack of a better word it increased the cellular growth of the micro organism causing a mutation.

The mental connection was altered to the point that the carboxacide could not affect it, as a result a full connection was made, which will last for a year."

"Why the hell where the two of you even competing in the Lodqu'sa. Didn't you know that the doctor only gave you clearance to go planet side? We have no idea what will happen during the competition." Janeway fumed.

"They're not the ones you should be upset with Captain." The doctor said as he glanced at Chakotay. "They were ordered to compete."

"As soon as we figure out a way to help Seven and B'Elanna, we will certainly be having a long discussion about this." Janeway said as she rounded on Chakotay.

Chakotay for his part just nodded quietly as he found a far corner of sick bay to stare at.

"Sadly there's more Captain, because of the mutation, it isn't simply a mental connection, and it's also a physical connection. They both need to be in close proximity to each other, They are both producing a chemical on their skin that the other has become dependant on." The doctor said.

"Well it does explain the seating arrangements." Janeway said as she felt a headache coming on. "So who won?"

"It was B'Elanna." Chakotay said quietly.

"Does this mean that B'Elanna… let me see if I have this straight is in charge of Seven?" Janeway asked.

"Seven's mine." B'Elanna said simply. The mental connection that they now had giving her a large amount of control over Seven, and also instilling the belief that normally she wouldn't have about another person.

"How do you feel about all of this Seven?" Janeway asked, noticing the tone in B'Elanna's voice. It wasn't a declaration of ownership, but almost sounded like a simple fact.

"I am not alone in my mind anymore. All things considered the situation is not entirely unpleasant." Seven said. It was like being part of the hive mind again, never alone, but not dominated by another mind or a collective will.

To Be Continued…


	2. The Naked Truth

To the Winner

Chapter Two

The doctor had spent the last couple of hours running as many tests as he could think of on Seven and B'Elanna, but it didn't look like there was a safe way to break the connection.

The results actually showed that it was extremely dangerous to even attempt it. The mental connection that had developed between the two women was incredibly complex.

B'Elanna was even able to access Seven's cortical node, which was able to regulating the effects of the tacron particles. Without it B'Elanna wouldn't be able to last a week.

The doctor wasn't even sure that one could survive without the other. There was just no way of telling what the mutated mental connection would do in such an event.

Even the Garians had no idea what to do about it, and were extremely apologetic about the situation. Tuplac had blamed himself for the entire incident, and wouldn't even hear of charging them anything for their stay, as well as going out of his way to make trade negotiations as easy as possible.

"How many more tests are you going to do?" B'Elanna asked impatiently. She just wanted to get out of sick bay. This was a tiring enough day already, and all she wanted to do was go lie down.

B'Elanna wasn't sure but she felt like she wasn't the only one that wanted to leave.

"I suppose there really isn't a reason for you to stay here." The doctor conceded. "Whatever the micro organism did is already done, so you aren't a risk to the rest of the crew. Computer beam B'Elanna and Seven to her quarters." The doctor said before the two women could say anything and watched as they disappeared in a shower of blue light.

"I don't know what's gotten into you over the last couple of months but it stops now." Janeway laid into Chakotay.

"I was only trying to make them get along better." Chakotay defended himself, like only a dying man could.

"It wasn't your job to make sure they got along better!" Janeway said. "I hope that you're prepared for the back lash from all of this because I am not going to be able to stop them. They have a very legitimate grievance against you that could very well end up as a court-martial. We can not afford to have a ship with fractured loyalties."

"So what's going to happen?" Chakotay said, beginning to accept his fate.

"That really depends on Seven and B'Elanna. If they're in a forgiving mood you might end up with a formal reprimand, and a loss of replicator rations, if they're not you'll be lucky if one of them doesn't throw you out of the nearest air lock." Janeway said as she began to feel her headache get worse. She was supposed to be sitting on the beach watching a sunset, but instead found herself here.

"Do you really think one of them will attack me?" Chakotay asked not knowing if Janeway was serious or not.

"How would you feel if you were all but saddled to someone that aggravated you like no other?" Janeway asked. "Consider yourself confined to quarters, and your shore leave cancelled, dismissed."

As the light from the transported faded B'Elanna found herself sitting on her sofa with Seven in her lap.

She was about get up to take off her boots when she felt Seven wiggle out of her grasp and drop to the floor, and a moment later Seven pulled off her boots for her.

Seven was about to get back up in B'Elanna lap when she felt B'Elanna's hands on her shoulders, pushing her back down to the floor again. "How did you know to do that?" It had actually been bugging her for a while. She even knew when to tap her comm. for her when they left the planet.

"The mental connection allows me to hear your thoughts." Seven answered simply.

"Wait, you can hear all my thoughts, why can't I hear yours?" B'Elanna asked feeling angry that Seven could just go and tell anyone she wanted her private thoughts.

"That is not how the link works." Seven explained, feeling B'Elanna's anger. "It is there for me to anticipate your needs. I am incapable of doing anything you do not want me to do. Your private thoughts will remain that way unless you want others to know."

"So you're telling me that you have to do everything I say?" B'Elanna asked. This wasn't the way the connection was supposed to work according to the Garians.

"Everything you say, and think." Seven confirmed.

"Is that why you haven't been saying all that much since it happened, because you knew I didn't feel like talking?" B'Elanna asked.

"Yes." Seven answered.

"I'm sorry," B'Elanna found herself saying. Seven might have annoyed her, but even she felt bad about all but forcing Seven to shut up.

"It is not your fault." Seven sensed B'Elanna's regret. "You were not aware of what you were doing. It will more than likely happen frequently until you become accustomed to it."

"How are you adapting to this so well?" B'Elanna asked as she allowed Seven to get back in her lap. For the time being they both needed to have a close proximity to each other.

"It is similar enough to the collective for me to understand." Seven said as Seven again got out of B'Elanna's lap.

"Seven what are… you don't have to do that it was just an idle thought." B'Elanna said as she felt herself turning around so that Seven could massage her shoulders.

"It will bother you until the tension in your back has been removed. It is the most efficient manner to deal with it." Seven explained as she went to work.

B'Elanna sighed as she felt Seven massage her shoulders and back. She knew exactly what to do, and where to go. "This is happening because I can't control my thoughts isn't it?" B'Elanna guessed. "I'm sub consciously ordering you to do this."

"It will take time, but you will learn." Seven assured her. "I imagine it would be difficult to change the way a person normally thinks."

"How can you be so calm and understanding about this?" B'Elanna asked. Seven's calmness was in fact rubbing off on her, without it she probably would be tearing into Chakotay right now.

"The situation is not as bad, from my point of view I suppose." Seven admitted.

"What do you mean? This isn't exactly an ideal situation for either of us." B'Elanna asked curiously as she felt Seven work out another knot in her back.

"There are far worse people to be connected to, and far worse things I could be doing." Seven explained.

"I suppose you're right about that." B'Elanna conceded as she thought about it.

Seven finished her massage and stood up and started walking to the bathroom as she felt B'Elanna's next thought.

"Wait, Seven." B'Elanna said, causing Seven to stop immediately. B'Elanna groaned inwardly. If someone had told her any other day that Seven would do everything she said she would have been ecstatic, but this wasn't what she had expected.

Seven wasn't doing what she wanted because she was right, but because she really didn't have a choice about it.

"B'Elanna when you want something I am compelled to do it. It would be easier for me to simply do it rather than deal with two conflicting orders." Seven offered.

"Alright, I want to take a bath." B'Elanna admitted. "But that doesn't mean you have to draw the bath for me. I can do that myself." She said trying not to send her emotions through their link.

"B'Elanna have you had time to think about the physical aspect of our link?" Seven asked carefully.

"What do you mean? We just have to touch each other every now and then, what's the big deal?" She asked.

"We have to touch each other more than you think, especially in the beginning. We are each producing a chemical that the other needs to survive which can not be replicated, and must be absorbed directly from skin to skin contact." Seven explained, from the information she was able to gather from her nano probes.

"I thought we could absorb the chemical through our clothes." B'Elanna said. "Wasn't that why we were sitting so close together?"

"We can only absorb trace amounts in that manner. We would have to remain like that for most of the day to absorb the necessary amount of the chemical."

"So what do you suggest we do then?" B'Elanna asked.

"We can absorb the chemical at a faster rate, and retain more of it for longer periods of time if we are not wearing clothes." Seven stated.

"Wait, you mean naked?" B'Elanna asked feeling self conscious. She may have been in good shape but she wasn't exactly pleased with the idea for having to bear it all to someone that seemed to annoy her on a daily basis.

"If it is a consolation, I more than likely won't see you naked." Seven picked up on B'Elanna's nervousness.

"What are you talking about? If we do… well that, how could you not see me naked?" B'Elanna asked, finding the whole conversation embarrassing.

"I believe that you will subconsciously order me to keep my eyes closed while you are unclothed." Seven elaborated.

"Are you okay with me seeing you naked?" B'Elanna asked after she thought about it for a moment. It actually did make a lot of sense.

"What I want is irrelevant B'Elanna." Seven said simply.

"I could keep my eyes closed too if you want." She offered.

"I believe it would be dangerous if we both had to navigate your quarters without being able to see." Seven pointed out.

"I still can't believe that you're taking this so well. If this was the other way around…" B'Elanna trailed off.

"I do not understand your feelings," Seven said with a small frown. "Why would you feel guilty over this?"

"I just took away your ability to make decisions for yourself Seven, hell one of the first thoughts that come to mind when I think about you is that I own you." B'Elanna said as thought about the effects of the mental link. "Why doesn't this bother you more?" She asked in frustration.

"I understand now." Seven said, understanding the true meaning behind B'Elanna's words through the link. "You are upset because you believe you have taken away my freedom."

"I don't believe, I know. If I told you to stand on one foot you would even have to do that." B'Elanna sighed as Seven lifted up one foot. "Put your foot down Seven." She said as she leaned back against the chair.

"By your logic I am not the one that you should be apologetic towards." Seven said as she put her foot down. "You have taken something from me that I never had."

"What are you talking about? Before all of this you were free. You could do whatever you wanted," B'Elanna said, feeling a little confused.

"When I was born, my parents controlled my life, then the Borg, followed by Captain Janeway, and now you. You have taken my freedom from the Captain, not me." Seven explained as best she could.

"The captain never controlled you." B'Elanna said upset at what Seven thought.

"It was not my decision to have my Borg implants removed, it was not my decision to remain on Voyager, it was not my decision to be 'stored' in the cargo bay, it was not my decision to be head of Astrometrics, it was not my decision to compete in the Lodqu'sa." Seven listed.

"You've never made a decision before? What about what you eat? What clothes you wear, or all those upgrades to engineering?" B'Elanna asked.

"The doctor keeps strict controls over my diet, my clothes were designed by the doctor, and approved by the Captain, and the upgrades to engineering were based on the orders of the Captain to help my new collective." Seven explained.

"I have upset you." Seven said as she noticed the tired look in B'Elanna's eyes.

Normally a statement like that would have angered B'Elanna, but after Seven's revelation she knew that it was not meant the way it sounded.

"Why does this disturb you as much as it does?" Seven asked. She had thought with this link she would be able to understand the other woman better, but she only felt more confused by the wide range of emotions she was feeling from her.

"Freedom is the basic right of every sentient being, and you've almost never experienced it, and when you did it was so fleeting that it just as well may not have happened at all."

"Would you feel upset if you could not build a warp engine if all you had was technology from the 20th century?" Seven asked.

"No it's impossible, but what does that have to do with anything?" B'Elanna asked wondering where the question had come from.

"Just as you accept your limitations I accept mine, freedom is something I can never have." Seven explained.

"Get the bath ready." B'Elanna said as she gave up on the conversation for now. She obviously needed more time to prepare before she could broach the subject again.

B'Elanna closed her eyes as Seven walked into the bathroom and she heard the faucet turn on. A few minutes later the water stopped and B'Elanna walked into the room.

B'Elanna noticed that Seven had even added bubbles, and was in the process of peeling off her bio-suit.

B'Elanna turned away quickly, trying to hide her blush.

"Why are you turning away?" Seven asked as she neatly folded her bio-suit. "I can sense that you are not disturbed by my implants."

"I just didn't expect to see you … all of you." B'Elanna stuttered.

"I believe it will be something that you will get used to eventually." Seven said. "It is unavoidable."

B'Elanna slowly tilted her head towards Seven and took a look at her. She had to admit to herself that Seven did have a great body. "You don't have any hair down there." B'Elanna said as she noticed the junction between Seven's legs.

"The doctor only stimulated the hair growth on my head." Seven explained.

"Alright close your eyes," B'Elanna said as Seven closed her eyes immediately. She glanced at Seven just to be sure, before she started to undue her pants before stopping. "Could you turn around as well?"

Seven again followed B'Elanna's instructions. "May I sit in the tub first? It would be more difficult with my eyes closed."

"Yeah, that's a good idea." B'Elanna managed to say as Seven sat down in the tub and turned to face the back wall.

B'Elanna fidgeted for a few more seconds before finally shedding her clothes and sitting down beside Seven in the tub.

It wasn't nearly as big as the Captain's but there was enough room for the both of them.

Seven turned towards her with her eyes closed, and leaned against her so that B'Elanna was lying down in the tub with Seven's head resting on her shoulder.

Almost immediately B'Elanna knew why Seven had suggested not wearing clothes. The slight tension she was feeling since Seven's massage had ended all but disappeared in seconds.

Neither woman said anything as they lay there. Nothing else seemed to matter as all the problems of the day seemed to disappear.

B'Elanna eventually had to sit up however as the bath water started to cool down, and her skin started to get prunes.

Seven pulled the stopper and sat up as well as she waited for B'Elanna to get out of the tub.

B'Elanna quickly toweled herself off and put on a robe as she handed Seven a towel. "You can open your eyes now."

Seven opened her eyes and dried herself off before she picked up her, and B'Elanna's discarded clothes.

She then followed B'Elanna into the bedroom and put the clothes in the hamper.

"You can use the replicator to get yourself a set of clothes." B'Elanna instructed.

"May I remain unclothed?" Seven asked. She thought it would be a waste to replicate clothes just to spend a couple of hours wearing before going to sleep.

"I guess it would be easier to keep direct physical contact that way." B'Elanna conceded. "But if you feel uncomfortable I want you to put something on."

"As you wish," Seven agreed.

"You really don't feel uncomfortable without clothes?" B'Elanna asked. "You're not self conscious at all?" She had never really met anyone that was as comfortable with their body as Seven was.

"You have already seen everything, what would be the point of hiding it now?" Seven asked curiously.

"You know it's a lot harder to argue with you now, you know that." B'Elanna said as she sat down at her desk.

"I would have believed it would be much easier now." Seven said. "I will no longer argue with you."

"You're wouldn't be backing down because you were wrong, but because I wanted you to." B'Elanna explained as she looked over some of the reports she had to finish. "It doesn't really count as me winning an argument."

"I understand." Seven said, and for the first time with B'Elanna actually meant it. It was much easier to understand her when she took the time to explain it.

"Come here," B'Elanna said as she parted her leg, exposing most of her leg and thigh as she beckoned Seven.

Seven obediently sat on B'Elanna's bare leg, her legs in between B'Elanna's and rested her head at the crook of B'Elanna's neck as she leaned into her.

B'Elanna could help but smirk as she thought about where she was and who she was with. She had the wet dream of half the crew sitting on her lap completely naked. She'd never been with a woman before, but now she could see what the attraction was.

Seven seemed to ignore B'Elanna's thoughts as she continued to look through the reports. She didn't even seem surprised when B'Elanna wrapped her arm around her waist and leaned back in the chair.

B'Elanna felt a vague feeling of tiredness even though she was feeling fine herself. She looked down to Seven, hoping she'd know when she noticed the younger woman struggling to keep her eyes open.

B'Elanna remembered that Seven had just recently stopped regenerating, and had probably already worked an eight hour shift before the away mission had even begun.

"Go to bed Seven." B'Elanna said as she helped her up. "I'll be there in a few minutes."

Seven only nodded as she went into the bedroom, and B'Elanna heard her get under the covers.

B'Elanna had hoped to at least be able to work for an hour but she started to feel a sourness in her muscles, _'Probably the chemical thing.' _B'Elanna thought with a sigh as she turned off the data pad.

_'I've got to figure out a solution to this.' _B'Elanna thought. _'I lasted all of fifteen minutes before I needed Seven with me again.' _

B'Elanna entered her bedroom quietly. Seven was probably already asleep. She removed her robe, placing it over an arm chair as she got under the covers as well.

She instantly felt better as she spooned Seven and wrapped an arm around her waist and closed her eyes.

To Be Continued…

THOUGHTS/OPINIONS/PLEASE REVIEW!


	3. Payback's a Bitch I

I'm going to start laying the ground work for a relationship pretty  
soon, and hopefully i answered some more questions in this part.  
What do you think love it/hate it/confused and don't know what's  
going on? Pretty much any review helps.

THOUGHTS/OPINIONS/QUESTIONS

PLEASE REVIEW

To the Winner

Chapter Three

Seven woke up the next morning in a warm bed. B'Elanna had her arm wrapped around her waist firmly, and one of her legs was tangled in between hers, but something seemed off. _'Were B'Elanna's legs always this long?' _Seven thought.

The object of Seven's thoughts stirred slightly as she woke up, feeling slightly disoriented for a moment, but not making any move to get out of bed.

After a few minutes Seven was the first to speak. "B'Elanna? Do you feel different?"

"What do you mean?" B'Elanna asked with a yawn. "That was the best night's sleep I ever had. I feel fine."

"Your arms and legs feel like they are longer." Seven said as she noticed how much further her arms reached around her, and how far her legs went down.

B'Elanna let go of Seven and sat up quickly, checking herself over. Everything seemed to be in place. She then quickly grabbed her robe and ran into the washroom to check over herself in a mirror.

Seven rolled over onto her stomach and turned to face the direction of the washroom. After only a few seconds she heard a startled exclamation followed by worry, and then a wave of anger directed at who she thought was Chakotay.

Seven then heard the replicator turn on, followed by some mild cursing before B'Elanna again appeared from the washroom.

"You are taller." Seven stated as she took in B'Elanna's new height as she wondered how it was possible.

"I noticed." B'Elanna said in an annoyed tone as she tossed a freshly replicated bio-suit on the bed. "Get ready we have to see the doctor."

Seven knew that B'Elanna's feelings really weren't directed at her, and didn't feel slighted by the comments. She untangled herself from the sheets and took the bio-suit into the washroom with her to get dressed.

Seven however did notice the where B'Elanna's eyes had strayed when she was talking, and had followed her as she walked into the washroom, but decided that now probably wasn't the best time to comment.

Seven appeared a few minutes later wearing a black bio-suit. It wasn't a color that she'd had the chance to try yet, but the cut and feel were similar to her maroon bio-suit.

"Let's find out what the doctor has to say about this." B'Elanna said as she took Seven's hand and they left her quarters.

Seven noticed that B'Elanna was now approximately two inches taller than her, putting her at the same height as Tom Paris.

On the way there almost everyone they came across couldn't help but notice the two women that seemed to spend every moment together fighting were holding hands.

The news was spreading faster than even and B'Elanna and Seven knew. A couple of hours into alpha shift and everyone would probably know.

The door to sickbay opened to let the two women inside. It was still an hour and a half until the Alpha shift started so the doctor was not online yet.

"Computer, activate the emergency medical hologram." B'Elanna snapped quickly. She really wanted to know what was going on.

"Please state the…" the doctor trailed off as he noticed B'Elanna's new stature. "Let me guess you're wondering why you're taller."

"Good guess." Was the only thing B'Elanna said as she tossed him a tricorder from the table beside her.

"Be careful with that." The doctor admonished. "It isn't a toy."

"Just scan me already." B'Elanna said impatiently.

The doctor mumbled something about careless and ungrateful lieutenants as he scanned B'Elanna.

"Well that's certainly interesting." The doctor said as the scan finished. "I knew you had access to Seven's cortical node but I had no idea that it would go this far."

"What happened?" B'Elanna said impatiently as she thought. _'Why does everyone have to be so calm about this?'_

"Since you're able to access Seven's cortical node her nano probes think that you are the same organism." The doctor elaborated.

"Wait a minute are you saying that I have nano probes inside me right now?" B'Elanna asked alarmed as thoughts of sprouting implants ran rampant through her head.

"It isn't as bad as you think." The doctor said calmly. "The nano probes are actually helping you. They were removing the inverse tacron particles that were still in your body. They probably finished a little after your height changed."

"There were still tacron particles inside me?" B'Elanna asked. "And how did the nano probes get inside me anyway?"

"I believe it was skin to skin contact." Seven explained.

"How do we get them out?" B'Elanna asked, accepting Seven's explanation.

"You don't have to worry about that now. As we speak they are migrating back into Seven's body." The doctor said as he pointed to Seven and B'Elanna holding hands.

"So I'm not going to have any more surprises?" B'Elanna asked, looking for confirmation.

"You'll be fine." The doctor assured her. "The tacron particles must have accessed some of you're recessive Klingon chromosomes." He hypothesized. "This is probably how tall you would have been if you were fully Klingon."

"Well I guess we should get some breakfast." B'Elanna thought as felt herself calm down.

"Actually while you're here Seven I might as well give you a quick check as well." The doctor said as he scanned her. "How are you feeling now that you're not regenerating anymore?"

"I am no longer capable of extended periods of duty." Seven said. A fact she was clearly not happy with

"It's a lot safer for you not to have to depend on the alcoves anymore." The doctor reminded her. "Not only is it one less piece of Borg technology we have to worry about breaking down, it also means that you have a better chance of surviving if you're stuck on a planet or away from Voyager."

"Wait a minute. I thought Seven needed the alcove to power implants." B'Elanna asked.

"A common misconception," the doctor said since there was really no point in keeping anything about Seven from B'Elanna anyway. "The alcove is the most efficient way for you to power your implants Seven, and since your body was so used to receiving energy that way it took some time for you to start using your digestive track again."

"Can she eat anything she wants now?" B'Elanna asked curiously.

"No, not for a while anyway, your stomach is still very delicate Seven. No spicy foods, alcoholic beverages, or heavy foods." The doctor said.

"We'll see you at the morning meeting doctor." B'Elanna said as her tone softened. She no longer had a reason to feel panicked, and the added height was something she could get used to anyway. "Come on let's get some breakfast Seven." B'Elanna said as she took her hand and led her out of sickbay.

"I'll have a more detailed report about what happened to the two of you during the morning meeting." The doctor called out as they left.

As soon as B'Elanna and Seven entered the mess hall, it was as if all the sound in the room just stopped as the crew stared at them in shock.

B'Elanna ignored them as she went over to the replicator. She replicated a stack of banana pancakes, with a glass of milk and waited for Seven to decide what she wanted.

Seven quickly decided to have a nutritional supplement.

"Do you actually like the way that tastes?" B'Elanna asked as she looked at her large glass of light brown liquid.

"The taste is not unpleasant." Seven said as she took a sip. "It also provides all of the nutrients I need."

B'Elanna decided to ask Seven later what she meant by 'the taste is not unpleasant' later because her mouth was practically watering from the smell of the pancakes.

They chose a table in the back of the mess hall and ate in a comfortable silence.

When Seven finished her nutritional supplement B'Elanna took Seven's hand again as the both walked towards the Captain's ready room, and hopefully a more complete explanation of what happened to them.

When B'Elanna and Seven entered the ready room they both realized that they were the last ones to arrive, and two seats had been saved for them side by side.

"Doctor I suppose you should start." Janeway said. "I don't think the rest of the crew is going to accept what happened without at least an explanation to the senior staff.

"Yes, Captain." The doctor said as he lifted up a data pad. "As most of you know there was a…" The doctor paused to find the right words.

"A… incident involving B'Elanna, Seven, and Chakotay. Apparently the Commander ordered Seven and B'Elanna to compete in a Garian competition to improve their relationship. What he failed to realize at the time was although everyone was cleared to go planet side and there was a micro organism in the air. Under normal circumstances it would not have been a problem." He said as he noticed the worried glances of some of the senior staff.

"Unfortunately when Seven and B'Elanna were ordered to compete in the Lodqu'sa competition the micro organism saw it as giving consent to form a mental connection between them. The dominant person in the mental connection is chosen through battle, and B'Elanna won through Seven's surrender." The doctor paused to let it all sink in.

"Normally this also would not have been a problem because the Garians mix carboxacide into the air of the stadium after a winner is decided to remove the link. B'Elanna had inverse tacron particles in her system during the competition, which no one knew about until well after the competition.

The inverse tacron particles caused a mutation in the micro organisms, making them resilient against the carboxacide, causing a mental link to form between B'Elanna and Seven." The doctor finished.

He then handed B'Elanna a pad with the rest of his findings which the rest of the crew did not need to know, therefore fit under the term of doctor patient confidentiality.

"Wait I have a question." Tom said. "I know that you're tough B'Elanna but you don't stand a chance against Seven in hand to hand combat. How could you have won?"

"It was the inverse tacron particles." B'Elanna explained. "According to the doctor's findings it increases physical and mental capacity before death."

"Before death," Harry asked. No one told him that it could kill B'Elanna.

"Relax Harry. I'm not going to die. Since Seven and I have a mental link I have access to her nano probes. To them we're pretty much the same organism. They safely fixed all the damage and removed the tacron particles." B'Elanna reassured him.

"Does this mean you're back to normal?" Tom asked.

"Not really. The physical and mental changes were permanent." B'Elanna answered.

"How did you get taller?" Neelix asked curiously. He myself wouldn't have minded being a couple of inches taller.

"That was the tacron particles." The doctor answered. "They activated some of B'Elanna's recessive Klingon chromosomes, giving her the height she would have if she were fully Klingon."

"Are these nano probes still in your body?" Tuvok asked. The last thing Voyager needed was Seven's nano probes spreading to the rest of the crew. If the Borg ever attacked they could be assimilated instantly.

"No, the nano probes have migrated back to my body." Seven answered, understanding Tuvok's concern.

"These tacron particles sound pretty cool." Tom said as he thought about it. "Can it do the same for all of us?" He wouldn't mind having a little extra energy.

"No, the effects are completely random, and extremely dangerous." The doctor stated. "They may have increased B'Elanna's strength, but they could have very well created an enzyme that ate away at her body until nothing was left, or caused her to mutate into a disfigured animal with no sense of right or wrong. She was incredibly lucky to get off as easy as she did."

"That was something you could have told me." B'Elanna said as she thought about all the things that could have gone wrong.

"You had enough problems to deal with. Why worry about things that never happened?" The doctor asked with a smile.

"Is anyone going to ask why B'Elanna and Seven are holding hands?" Tom asked. He had been wondering about it for the entire meeting.

"The micro organism was mutated. It created both a metal link and a physical one. We must maintain a certain amount physical contact or it will negatively affect our health." Seven explained.

"Are we still going to have shore leave?" Tom asked. He was really hoping to see the planet.

"Yes, shore leave will resume tomorrow." The captain said. "The Garians are very apologetic about what happened, so try not to take advantage of that." Janeway advised them. She felt like she was almost robbing them for the trades they had made so far.

"You have all been given this information about Seven and B'Elanna to dissuade false rumours about them, not start them." Janeway said sternly.

The crew nodded silently. Most of them guessing what would happen if they were ever caught spreading rumours about B'Elanna and Seven.

The senior staff all filed out of the room except for the Captain, B'Elanna, Seven, and Chakotay, who had remained silent through the entire meeting.

When the doors closed Janeway began. "B'Elanna, Seven do you wish to press formal charges against Chakotay?" She just knew that no matter how this turned out Chakotay would definitely be paying for it.

"Yes Captain, we-" B'Elanna stopped as she looked at Seven, partly in shock. It might have been her imagination but she just got the feeling that Seven wanted to go easy on Chakotay.

"Tell me I imagined that Seven." B'Elanna said as she stared directly at Seven.

"You did not B'Elanna. I do not believe that he should be brought up on formal charges." Seven said calmly.

"Are you out of your mind?" B'Elanna asked angrily. "I am not going to let him get away with this."

"I…" Seven began to say before she closed her mouth, "Will do as you say."

B'Elanna growled in frustration as she glared at Seven. "I knew it! It was only a matter of time before you figured something out. Even after everything that happened you still figured out how to annoy me." B'Elanna didn't know if she was angry with Seven for finding a new, and from the way things looked a better way to annoy her, or respect her for it.

"B'Elanna I think you should calm down." Janeway said. "Seven hasn't done anything to disagree with you. You have no reason to be upset with her."

"That's just it Captain. I can't win an argument with her, and she knows it. Tell her Seven, tell her that because you can't fight back I can't fight with you or win an argument." B'Elanna ordered.

"B'Elanna can not fight me because I am unable to fight back." Seven answered.

"You're really enjoying this aren't you?" B'Elanna asked, annoyed. She could tell right away that Seven said what she had said because it was an order, and not necessarily how she felt.

"A little bit." Seven was forced to admit with a slight smirk.

Janeway and Chakotay just looked between the two women. They had thought it impossible now, but they were proven wrong. Seven and B'Elanna were still some how able to argue with each other.

"Well let's hear your idea then, because I can tell you right now Chakotay's isn't going to walk away from this clean." B'Elanna promised.

"Formal charges may fracture ship loyalties, and effect moral." Seven pointed out. "Perhaps a just a reprimand will suffice."

"A reprimand, no way, that isn't nearly enough." B'Elanna disagreed immediately.

"What if Chakotay were to loose his replicator rations for a period of time?" Seven asked.

"What do you consider a short period of time?" B'Elanna asked. She knew how good Seven was at phrasing her words, and would not be tipped up like that.

"Captain are you just going to let them barter for my punishment like that? Please say something to them." Chakotay asked aghast. This was not how he had thought things would go. He didn't even get a chance to say something to defend his actions.

"No way," the Captain said with a smile. "You wanted them to get along, and they are… I think. In either case you had this a long time coming."

B'Elanna and Seven didn't even seem to hear them as they continued.

"Two weeks?" B'Elanna asked incredulously. "You're going to have to a lot better than that. I'm thinking more along the lines of six months."

"You're punishment seems overly harsh. Would you consider one month?"

"No way, four months."

"Two months."

"Three months, but I want something else then."

"Very well three months, what else did you want?" Seven asked approaching this as if she were bargaining for commodities.

"How about his holodeck privileges," B'Elanna asked as she considered how much time he actually spent in it.

"I am listening." Seven said noncommittally.

"I want him banned from the holodeck until we reach the alpha quadrant." B'Elanna stated.

"That may take decades." Seven pointed out. She didn't want revenge, just for Chakotay to be punished fairly for his series of poor decisions as of late.

"I know." B'Elanna smirked.

"Three months without use of the holodeck, the same as his replicator rations." Seven offered.

"I'm afraid that's a deal breaker Seven." B'Elanna said as she really began to get into it. "No holodeck or no deal."

"What about…" Seven stopped to think for a moment. "I will wash and massage your feet every night for a year if you let Chakotay use the holodeck in three months."

"You can't do that, this is about Chakotay not you." B'Elanna said as she looked over to Janeway for confirmation.

"Oh no, I'm not walking into that mind field." Janeway said as she pushed herself away from the table a little. "You figure this out yourselves."

B'Elanna turned to Seven and stared at her as she thought about it. Seven really did know how to give her a good massage. After a long moment B'Elanna finally came to a decision. "Four months and you do the massage until I tell you to stop."

"Agreed, is that enough of a punishment?" Seven asked, wondering what B'Elanna would think of next. B'Elanna definitely knew how to be vindictive when the opportunity arose.

"One last thing," B'Elanna said deciding to go for broke. "I just want to kick him just one time in the balls." She said with a completely straight face.

"Now wait just a minute." Chakotay said as he unconsciously covered his crotch. "I would prefer a formal reprimand over this and whatever punishment that the Captain deems fit."

"You wish to injure his genitals?" Seven asked, not believing what B'Elanna had said.

"You heard me." B'Elanna said as they both ignored Chakotay again.

"Is there nothing else you would prefer?" Seven asked.

"That depends, what else you got?" B'Elanna asked curiously.

"I will… prepare your meals." Seven offered.

"How do I even know you can cook?" B'Elanna asked.

"I will learn." Seven said.

"I'm going to need a little more than that." B'Elanna said. She didn't know how fast or how well Seven would learn.

"I can not think of anything else." Seven admitted.

"I get to punch him in the face."

"Slap him in the face once."

"Back handed?"

"Open palm."

"…deal." B'Elanna finally agreed.

"Captain you can't seriously be considering this?" Chakotay said as she noticed the expression on Janeway's face.

"Well it's either that or formal charges, which will undoubtedly lead to fractured loyalties, and a severe drop in ship moral, but it's up to you. Is it worth all of the backlash?" Janeway asked, secretly finding the whole thing funny as hell.

"Open palm?" He asked as he looked at B'Elanna.

B'Elanna only nodded.

"Alright, just get it over with" Chakotay agreed as B'Elanna stood up.

B'Elanna stood next to him for a moment before letting loose the bitch slap to end all bitch slaps. Chakotay went down like a ton of bricks.

Seven knelt beside him and checked him over. "His pulse is strong, but his jaw is broken in two places." She said as a bruise began to form. "I had forgotten about the increased strength." She said as she looked up at B'Elanna.

"You know it." B'Elanna said with an evil smirk.

Seven tapped Chakotay's comm. "One to beam to sick bay."

"You should know that normally I would have to put you in the brig for something like that, but considering what happened I'm going to let it slide this once. Just don't tell anyone that I let you get away with that." Janeway said.

"Fine," B'Elanna agreed, knowing that she had got a lot more than she bargained for in the end anyway.

"You're shire leave begins this evening at 1700 hours. You should probably get ready." Janeway suggested as she dismissed them.

To Be Continued…

THOUGHTS/OPINIONS/QUESTIONS

PLEASE REVIEW


	4. Shore Leave I

Well here we go the fourth part. I think that most of the  
explanation part of the story is finihsed. Hopefully i answered all  
of your questions so far, and if you have anymore please review.

THOUGHTS/OPINIONS/REVIEWS

To the Winner

Chapter Four

B'Elanna and Seven had just left the ready room leaving the Captain alone with her thoughts.

'_That was certainly interesting, probably the best good cop bad cop I've ever seen.' _Janeway mused.

'_Still, I probably shouldn't have let B'Elanna slap Chakotay like that even though he had it coming, but I guess hindsight is 20/20.'_

'_Then again it probably would have helped if I remembered the whole enhanced strength thing as well.'_

"Alright Seven, explain it to me. Why would you go easy on Chakotay? You're the one that said you would file a formal complaint against him." B'Elanna said as they reached her quarters.

"This ship is unable to function unless the entire crew believes in its leaders. A good number of the crew would have been alienated and could start second guessing the senior staff if they knew the whole truth of the situation all at once." Seven explained. "A reprimand in his file will punish him without alienating or confusing the loyalties of the crew."

"I'll give you that one." B'Elanna agreed. "But if things don't change after this you won't be able to protect him a second time." She warned.

"I understand it is unlikely that you will agree to the same thing again." Seven conceded.

"Wait does this mean you're just going to think of something else next time?" B'Elanna asked curiously. Seven wasn't known to give up easily, regardless of the situation.

"Do you really wish to know, or would you rather I surprise you?" Seven asked for clarification. This was one of the situations where she was compelled to answer truthfully if B'Elanna wanted to know.

"No." B'Elanna sighed as she sat down on the couch and Seven curled up in her lap. "It takes a lot of the challenge out of it." She admitted as she put her arm around Seven's waist.

"Where will we go for shore leave?" Seven asked curiously. She hadn't really wanted to go but she knew that B'Elanna did, and it would be considered 'rude' to spurn the Garians in their apologies.

"I'm not really sure. Tuplac will probably meet us there for the transport. If I had to guess from the way they're acting their probably going to be rolling out the red carpet." B'Elanna thought about it.

"Roll out the red carpet?" Seven asked curiously. She wasn't sure what the term meant.

"It means to treat us better than normal." B'Elanna explained. If there was one advantage about their link it was the fact that they could always know the emotional state of the other.

It had started out slow for B'Elanna at first but she was slowly beginning to feel Seven's base emotions through the link. It must have been because Seven's neural pathways were already used to mind links which allowed her to understand B'Elanna's emotions so quickly were as B'Elanna still had to struggle to understand them.

"I think that I'm finally starting to get the hang of this mind link." B'Elanna said. The emotions Seven was feeling had grown clearer since the previous night.

"Soon I believe you will have conscious access to my Borg systems as well." Seven agreed.

"Seven does it bother you that I can just access your Borg systems like that?" B'Elanna asked. She wasn't quite sure how she would react of the situations were reversed.

"Your access to my systems is not a hindrance, in fact I believe it will help much more than harm." Seven answered as she laid her head on B'Elanna's shoulder.

"What do you mean?" B'Elanna asked curiously.

"The majority of my Borg systems are automated. Only the Borg queen has the level of access to my systems that you do on both an automated and manual level.

Normally the Borg has numerous safeguards to prevent such access to a drone, or anyone with access to the drone, but this is a situation that was never considered. I believe that if the situation ever arose I would have to follow your orders over the queen if I was re-assimilated.

The same can be said for you as well. The complexity of our mental link makes it impossible for a complete assimilation." Seven tried to explain as best as she could.

"How much access will I have?" B'Elanna asked. If it was enough to override the Borg queen it must have been quite a bit.

"Total access, if you wished you could shout down all of my implants, force me to assimilate anyone, even order my nano probes to synthesize a poison an inject directly into my blood stream." Seven said.

"You know I would never do that right?" B'Elanna asked, more for Seven's reassurances than hers.

"I do. We may argue about most things but I know that you do not wish to harm me." Seven agreed.

"Good." B'Elanna said as she started to rub her forehead, something that Seven picked up on immediately.

"You need more physical contact." Seven said as more of a statement than an order.

"I'm fine. Just stay there for a little longer." B'Elanna instructed.

"Perhaps if we removed some of our clothing it would be easier." Seven suggested, as she also started feeling the effects.

"I don't know about that, it's the beginning of the day." B'Elanna said with a sigh. She was still feeling uncomfortable about being naked in front of another person.

"I believe that if you remain in your underwear it will suffice." Seven offered as she dropped to the floor and began to remove B'Elanna's boots.

"Alright," B'Elanna agreed as she relaxed and allowed Seven to continue.

In a few minutes Seven had removed B'Elanna's boots. This was followed shortly by B'Elanna's pants, uniform jacket, and undershirt, which Seven carefully folded and placed on the coffee table, leaving B'Elanna in just her bra and panties.

"What about you?" B'Elanna asked curiously. "Are you going to keep that bio-suit on?"

"No, I find them constricting." Seven said as she pulled down the zipper with a practiced motion and stripped it off.

B'Elanna lay down on the sofa on her back and beckoned Seven to her.

Seven needing no further instruction lay down on top of her, her head resting under B'Elanna's chin, and her legs lying in between B'Elanna's.

B'Elanna wrapped an arm around the Seven's waist as she let out a sigh of contentment. She didn't know how she would get through a normal day without this.

"Seven, why do you wear bio suits?" B'Elanna asked curiously after a moment of silence.

"It is the garment the doctor provided for me after he removed my implants." Seven replied as placed her hands on B'Elanna's shoulders.

"Is there a medical reason you need to wear them?" B'Elanna asked for clarification.

"After my implants were removed my skin became overly sensitive. The bio suit acted as a second skin to protect it as well as my implants until they adjusted." Seven explained.

"If you don't need the bio suit anymore and find it uncomfortable why do you still wear it?" B'Elanna asked. It really didn't make any sense. "You seem okay now without any clothes on."

"I was never told to wear anything different." Seven answered, confused by what B'Elanna was asking.

"Why do you need to be told to wear anything?" B'Elanna asked, also starting to find the conversation confusing, but for different reasons.

"I was told that Voyager was my new collective, therefore the Captain, and to a lesser extent Commander Chakotay were in essence my new queen. They ordered me to work in Astrometrics, to improve efficiency aboard Voyager, and to regenerate in the cargo bay. They never spoke of my personal comfort." Seven answered.

"That isn't true Seven." B'Elanna said. She had seen many occasions where the doctor was trying to teach Seven about humanity, and heard about the long discussions she had with the Captain.

"To what are you referring?" Seven asked. From everything she could remember she was basically told to become more human and basically no real instruction after that.

"The doctor, the captain, there were lots of people trying to help you." B'Elanna said not liking the idea that Seven though she was basically thrown into the deep end of the pool and told to either learn how to swim or drown.

"The doctor knew even less about humanity than I did, how could he be expected to teach me something he was not even capable of understanding at the time?" Seven asked. "I was given basic information about human mating habits, and what I must do to understand and adapt to my new collective. He never once spoke to me about my personal comfort. Therefore I deemed it as irrelevant."

"What about the captain?" B'Elanna asked, deciding to go back to Seven's points about the doctor afterwards but she couldn't help but admit to herself that Seven was at least partially correct.

"The captain is the one that confuses me the most. Every day it seems that I am held to a new standard. I am encouraged to voice my opinions one day, then told to 'go with the flow' the next day. I am asked to do what I believe is right, the punished when that belief is not the same as the Captain's.

If there is one thing I have learned it is to do as I am instructed, and ask as few questions as possible. Everything else has led to long lectures of what it is to be human, something I can easily access from any computer station. Unfortunately there is very little information on what it is to be an individual." Seven concluded.

"What do you find comfortable?" B'Elanna asked. She found herself very curious to find out what it was that Seven liked and disliked.

"I find this arrangement comfortable." Seven referred to their mental link. "I enjoy the feeling of lying on top of you like this." Seven volunteered.

"What information did you dig up on being an individual?" B'Elanna asked curiously as she wrapped her other arm around Seven's waist.

"Nothing, my queries only showed the antonym of individuality." Seven replied.

"You mean slavery," B'Elanna said immediately. "Granted there are some similarities to your situation, but you're not a slave Seven. You can do what ever you want."

"Yes, I may do whatever I wish as long as I have the captain's approval and now more recently yours." Seven replied.

"Damn it Seven, you're not a slave." B'Elanna said feeling annoyed. "It was abolished hundreds of years ago."

"I know that." Seven said trying to calm B'Elanna. "Slavery usually entails a complete lack of control over your environment, and usually a large amount of physical abuse."

"I don't want you implying that you're a slave anymore." B'Elanna ordered, ignoring the fact that giving that order was pretty much telling her that she was a slave.

"I apologize." Seven said immediately. "I wish that you would not feel upset over our situation. The simple fact is that my freedom was always held by someone else. I can not feel upset over loosing something I never had."

"Just be quite Seven." B'Elanna said in a tired voice. Seven just didn't see this the way that she did, and there really wasn't any point in arguing about it anymore, she just wanted to take a quick nap before they went down to the planet again.

Seven knew that B'Elanna did not mean it as an insult. She just didn't want to talk about it anymore, so she closed her eyes and joined B'Elanna in her nap.

The next three hours passed by uneventfully for the two women as they slept away most of the afternoon.

Finally when B'Elanna did awake she realized that her hands had moved a little south as she slept. She was now cupping Seven's ass. Thankfully for her the younger woman still seemed to be asleep.

B'Elanna was just about to move her hands back to Seven's waist when she noticed how firm Seven's bottom was. She chanced a light squeeze, thinking that Seven was still dead to the world.

'_I wonder what she does to say in such great shape.' _B'Elanna thought to herself as she gave Seven's ass another squeeze. _'Whatever it is it's working.'_ B'Elanna ran her hands up and down feeling how smooth and soft her skin was.

B'Elanna finally looked down to see Seven's eyes open and she froze in mid squeeze as her face flushed.

The lay like that for a moment, neither woman saying anything, B'Elanna still keeping a firm hold on Seven's ass, her hands frozen in place, and her eyes now locked with Seven.

Seven oddly enough was the first one to break eye contact. She lowered her head back to B'Elanna's shoulder, not making a sound.

"How long have you been awake?" B'Elanna asked, finally finding her voice as she let go of Seven's ass.

"Approximately one hour." Seven replied without looking up.

"Then why didn't you say anything?" B'Elanna asked as she blushed again.

"It appeared as if you did not want to be disturbed." Seven said with a slight hint of amusement.

"You… should know… that I've… I mean… I never did anything like that before." B'Elanna stammered. "I thought you were asleep and… well I'm not really attracted to women. It's just that… you're in great shape, I just wanted to see… do you use some kind of lotion?" She asked quickly changing the subject. "You're skin is really soft that is… I wouldn't…"

"It's an herbal lotion I found in the replicator." Seven answered, taking pity on B'Elanna. "I can give you the replicator pattern if you wish."

"Good." B'Elanna said quickly. "That's a good idea. You know what we should probably start packing." She said in a flustered tone as she sat up quickly, forgetting that Seven was still lying on top of her.

Seven yelped as she instinctively wrapped her legs around B'Elanna's waist before she fell on the floor and put her arms on B'Elanna's shoulders to hold on.

B'Elanna almost lost her balance as well as she stood up, her hands quickly flying to Seven's ass to hold her up as well.

As soon as B'Elanna regained her footing she realized what she was holding on to and dropped her hands again, resulting in her falling back onto the chair in a sitting position with Seven still wrapped around her waist.

"Are you feeling a little nervous?" Seven asked with the hint of a smile on her face, which for her was the equivalent of laughing in her face.

"I bet you find the hilarious don't you." B'Elanna said dryly.

"It is highly amusing, yes." Seven agreed.

"Were you going to let me up anytime soon?" B'Elanna asked.

"I do not know if that is wise." Seven replied. Since it was a question that B'Elanna asked instead of an order Seven was allowed a little leeway.

"Why is that?" B'Elanna asked.

"Remember your hands?" Seven asked, to which B'Elanna nodded. "They are on my posterior again." She said completely straight faced.

B'Elanna looked down for only a fraction of a second before she realized that Seven was right and quickly pulled her hands away as her face turned beet red.

"This isn't fair, how come you never feel embarrassed about this stuff." B'Elanna groaned.

"It is because the first thought I have about myself is that I belong to you." Seven replied. "Why should I feel any embarrassment as one of your belongings for looking foolish? That responsibility falls directly onto you."

"Sometimes I think you got the better deal." B'Elanna mused as Seven got out of her lap. "Do you need anything for the trip?"

"I believe I will need at least two bio suits, and a bottle of the lotion we discussed." Seven answered.

"That's it?" B'Elanna asked. She had never met anyone that packed so light. "What about a swim suit, or formal clothes, sun tan lotion?" B'Elanna listed off a couple of the things she was going to bring.

"Perhaps you should decide what we bring." Seven suggested. "My shore leave only lasts for approximately six hours."

"Why only six hours, everybody gets three days?" B'Elanna asked.

"I prefer to remain aboard Voyager." Seven answered. With her cortical node she really didn't need to visit a planet. She already knew everything she needed to know.

"You do realize that we have to stay the full three days right?" B'Elanna asked. It would be considered rude to not go to the planet now.

"I understand." Seven agreed.

"Alright I'll pick some stuff out. Get ready to go in ten minutes." B'Elanna instructed.

B'Elanna walked into the bedroom and pulled out a duffel bag. First she put in the things she was going to bring then replicated a few things for Seven knowing that Seven didn't have much of a wardrobe.

"Are you ready to go?" B'Elanna asked as she popped her head out of the bedroom.

"I will in a moment." Seven said as she pulled on her bio suit and zipped in up.

"We are definitely going to have to get you some new clothes." B'Elanna said. "Physical contact is almost impossible with those things."

Seven and B'Elanna left her quarters and made the short walk to the teleporter pad, and in a blue flash of light appeared on Garia.

"I'm so glad that you decided to return." Tuplac gushed. He felt personally responsible for the whole thing by allowing them to even compete. "We have spared no expense in your lodgings either. We have a transport ready to take you to one of our most luxurious private beaches. A beach house has been set aside for you as well with everything you will need."

"Thanks," B'Elanna finally managed to get in. "I'm sure it'll be fine."

As the three of them boarded the transport Tuplac couldn't help but ask a few more questions about the mental link.

"I have been told that your mental link has mutated." Tuplac broached the subject as carefully as he could.

"Yeah, we have to share a certain amount of physical contact as well." B'Elanna volunteered.

"I hope there aren't any further complications." Tuplac said hopefully.

"No the link has pretty much stabilized." B'Elanna said as she stared out of the window.

"I feel I must apologize again. I found your commanders request a strange but assumed it was part of you culture to do such things. Had I known I would never have allowed it to happen." Tuplac apologized for what must have been the 12th time to them.

"It is not your fault." Seven said. "The commander is the one that is to blame, and he was punished for it."

B'Elanna only smirked as she remembered Chakotay's punishment. As far as revenge went it was definitely up there.

For the rest of the trip they all remained relatively silent. B'Elanna and Seven staring out the window and taking in the alien scenery. After almost half an hour they arrived on a small island with a beach house dominating most of island itself.

"There is a second transport waiting for you in the boat house." Tuplac informed them as they stepped out of the transport. "Feel free to use it to explore."

"This is a really nice beach house." B'Elanna said obviously impressed.

"It is normally reserved for our heads of state, but none of them have it reserved for the next week." Tuplac added.

"Well thanks Tuplac." B'Elanna said as she looked towards the house again.

"Please enjoy yourselves." Tuplac insisted. "I will be in touch." He said as he got back in the transport and took off.

"Let's go check this place out." B'Elanna said in excitement as she grabbed Seven's hand and they walked in the front door. This beach house was easily ten times better than the resort the Captain was even staying in.

"This… is interesting." Seven said as she got her first look inside the beach house.

"No kidding." B'Elanna agreed as she also took a look around.

B'Elanna had expected the beach house to be split into multiple rooms, but instead was greeted by the sight of a single giant room, with a smaller sectioned off area that was presumably the toilet.

It was like walking into the harem of sultan from a thousand years ago. A bathing pond was in the center of the large room.

In the top corner was a king size four poster bed, low to the ground with a mosquito net.

The right side was dominated with large windows, and a set of glass doors that led out to an equally large balcony that overlooked the ocean.

The ground was littered with round and cylindrical beanbag like chairs overtop a large and intricately woven rug. There was even a hole in the centre for where it met the bathing pond.

On the left side of the room was a large fountain, presumed for drinking water. Beside it was a table with a fresh bowl of fruit in a stasis field and a replicator, the only piece of real technology in the room.

"So what do you want to do first?" B'Elanna asked as they finished taking in the room.

To Be Continued…

THOUGHTS/OPINIONS/REVIEWS


	5. Shore Leave II

I know it's been a little while since i updated last but i've been having a few computer problems. I need to replace the ac adapter to my computer and it's taking a while to track down a distributor in my area.

Anyway, on with the story

THOUGHTS/OPINIONS/QUESTIONS?

PLEASE REVIEW!

Thanks for Reviewing: Niyx, Mariel4000, High Caliber, GoddessAnjanee, Dark Borg Drone

NadiaGray: Thanks, and I'm definitely going to be finishing it. I only have a rough idea of the story though so it may take some time.

Sneekie: Well I made this chapter a little longer then my usual, hopefully I can get another part out soon for you guys, but review really help to get me in the writing mood (hint, hint)

Wilcat: Well as soon as shore leave ends you're going to see the reactions of pretty much the entire crew.

* * *

To the Winner

Chapter Five

"_So what do you want to do first?" B'Elanna asked as they finished taking in the room._

_

* * *

_

"I am unsure. Is there enough activities for three days?" Seven asked. She wasn't used to having this much free time. Aboard Voyager there was always something that needed to be done.

"Sure. We have a beach, probably a boat, and probably one of the most interesting beach houses I've ever seen." B'Elanna pointed out. "We can start with watching the sunset." B'Elanna suggested. "I can't remember how long it's been since I've seen a real sunset."

"What is special about a sunset?" Seven asked curiously. She had read about the term but it was simply an atmospheric glow and coloring near the horizon.

"Alright, come on I'll show you." B'Elanna said knowing that Seven wouldn't understand unless she saw it fore herself.

"Very well," Seven agreed knowing that it was phrased as an order as she reached behind her to pull down the zipper of her bio suit. She had started to find out how much more comfortable it was without clothes.

"Here," B'Elanna said as she reached behind Seven and pulled down the zipper for her. At first she didn't think she'd get used to it but she was actually starting to get used to the fact that Seven spent most of their private time without clothes. "You're turning into quite the nudist aren't you?"

"I find clothing constricting." Seven explained as she pulled down her bio suit the rest of the way down and placed it neatly on a cushion.

"I'm going to have to remember that the next time we have shore leave." B'Elanna said as they walked out onto the balcony.

B'Elanna sat down on a beach chair, and Seven made herself comfortable in B'Elanna's lap and leaned her back into her, as B'Elanna found herself wrapping her arms around Seven's waist as the both looked out to the sunset.

"This was what I was talking about Seven." B'Elanna said as they stared out at the red, purple, blue, and yellow on the horizon. "The holodeck just can't get the colors right."

"I believe I understand now." Seven said as she stared up at the sky. The words in Voyager's data base just didn't compare to the real thing.

B'Elanna had only intended for them to stay out for about an hour, but it was well passed sunset when she realized the time.

By then Seven had curled up on top of her and she had her arms wrapped snugly around Seven's waist and legs.

Sure Seven had seen the stars before, but she had never seen it from a planet before and B'Elanna had the feeling that Seven wanted to look at them a while longer.

"Alright Seven, time to go inside," B'Elanna finally said. It was becoming obvious that Seven was starting to get cold.

Seven just nodded as B'Elanna picked her up, and brought her inside the beach house. They both noticed immediately that it was a couple of degrees warmer inside that it should have been.

They both surmised that the beach house was a little less rustic than they had originally thought.

"Grab the bowl of fruit Seven," B'Elanna said as she stopped at the table. It had pretty much all of her favourite foods in it, and she was dying to taste some of them.

When Seven took the bowl out of the stasis field B'Elanna sat them down on one of the larger cushions beside the bathing pool.

"So are there any fruits here you can't eat?" B'Elanna asked as Seven made herself comfortable on B'Elanna's lap.

"I should not have a problem, although I have not tried the majority of the fruit in this bowl." Seven replied.

"Alright, why don't we start with strawberries?" B'Elanna said as she pulled out two of them and handed one to Seven. _'They must have talked to Neelix_.' B'Elanna thought. It was the only way they could have known.

Seven bit into the fruit after as she watched B'Elanna do the same. She could tell almost immediately how much better it was than her nutritional supplements.

Seven and B'Elanna spent the rest of the night sampling the bowl of fruit. B'Elanna couldn't believe that Seven still had her nutritional supplements even after she didn't have to drink them anymore.

"Why did you keep drinking those nutritional supplements?" B'Elanna asked. "I tried them once, and they tasted awful." She said frowning at the memory.

"I had no frame of reference." Seven explained. "I now enjoy the taste of fruits more than nutritional supplements."

Well I guess that's an improvement." B'Elanna agreed.

B'Elanna and Seven spent another half hour sampling the bowl of fruit. They were both a little tired, and weren't in the mood for a full meal.

"Alright Seven, let's get some sleep." B'Elanna said as she pulled back the mosquito net and deposited Seven on the bed.

As Seven pulled back the sheets she noticed that it was the Garian version of silk. It was probably ten times softer and smoother than earth's version.

Seven got under the covers and turned on her side, facing away from B'Elanna. She was still self conscious about being naked in front of her.

B'Elanna quickly shed her clothes, and got in under the covers as well, which caused all of the lights to turn off.

B'Elanna pulled Seven towards her so that the younger woman's back was pressed against her chest, and then lifted Seven's leg up slightly so she could place one of her legs in between Seven's. She then wrapped her arm snugly around Seven's waist.

"Goodnight B'Elanna." Seven said when B'Elanna had settled in for the night.

"Goodnight Seven." B'Elanna found herself replying before she closed her eyes.

* * *

B'Elanna woke up the next morning feeling relaxed and refreshed. It took her a full minute before she realized where her hand had strayed during the night. The hand that was resting on Seven's waist had moved up and was now cupping Seven's breast.

Fortunately for B'Elanna Seven was asleep and so she could move her hand back down to Seven's waist without her knowing about it.

B'Elanna sighed with relief, a potentially embarrassing situation was averted, or so she thought.

Seven woke up with a soft murmur as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. When B'Elanna had moved her hand it had woken her up. She could still feel the warmth of B'Elanna's hand on her.

"B'Elanna you must stop feeling embarrassed about this." Seven said with a slight yawn.

"What are you talking about Seven?" B'Elanna asked nervously. How could she have been found out again?

"Your right hand was cupping my right breast." Seven replied. "I know that your hands move when you sleep. They are absorbing as much of the chemical as possible, and to do that they can not stay in one place for long." Seven explained.

"So you don't mind where I touch you?" B'Elanna asked. She did not understand how Seven could be so understanding about the whole situation. She had copped a feel not once, but twice.

In answer to B'Elanna's question Seven took B'Elanna's hand and replaced it over her right breast. "I belong to you B'Elanna, it is you that decides, not me." Seven pointed out.

"You're not a slave Seven. I don't control your life." B'Elanna snapped, but didn't move her hand.

"I am not a slave, but neither am I free. I am something else. I believe I would fit under the category of chattel, more as your personal property than a slave." Seven thought about it.

"Chattel?" B'Elanna asked. She had never heard that term before.

"It is an item of personal property that does not fall under the category of land, or a quantifiable asset." Seven explained.

"I guess that sums it up." B'Elanna agreed. "But doesn't it feel weird me touching you like this, I mean shouldn't it be someone you have feelings for, someone you trust?" B'Elanna tried again.

"I trust you B'Elanna, and this is the closest I have ever been to an actual relationship. In either case I do not believe I can have any kind of successful relationship given our current situation." Seven pointed out.

B'Elanna didn't really have much time to think about it but Seven was right, in both their cases. Her relationship if you could even call it that with Tom was already strained before everything happened, and now a relationship between them seemed ever more daunting.

"You've never had a relationship?" B'Elanna asked curiously. "What about that date you had with Chapman?"

"That was not a date, it was a disaster." Seven replied. "I ended the doctor's social lessons shortly after that. It was then that I realized he was not qualified to teach me about human interaction."

"So how far did you go with Chapman?" B'Elanna asked with a smile.

"The high point was a very awkward hand shake at the end of the night." Seven answered as B'Elanna chuckled lightly.

"So what do you want to do today?" B'Elanna changed the subject. She felt a little guilty that she was partially responsible for the fact that Seven couldn't have a relationship with anyone for a full year.

"I am unsure. I am unaccustomed to 'free time'" Seven pointed out.

"Well you're going to learn all about it today." B'Elanna said enthusiastically. She had really wanted to check out the private beach. "I've been dying to try out that beach and maybe the boat this afternoon."

B'Elanna got out of bed and put on a robe before going around the corner and into the washroom.

When B'Elanna rounded the corner Seven rolled onto her stomach and looked around the room again. It was certainly an opulent beach house, Seven had to admit.

Seven decided to get up herself and got into the bathing pond and began to wash herself. There was a box beside the pond filled with soap, and other cleansing necessities, that Seven opened.

B'Elanna had just finished using the washroom. It was quite a bit larger than she had originally thought. It didn't have a tub but there was a shower, a toilet, and a sink with plenty of space for anything they wanted to keep there.

B'Elanna spotted Seven in the bathing pond, and she seemed to be enjoying herself. There was a thin lather of soap around her body, slowly being washed away as she poured water onto her body using a wooden bucket.

"Enjoying yourself, Seven?" B'Elanna interrupted the younger woman's thoughts with a smile. If only Seven knew how sexy she looked right then B'Elanna doubted very much that she would have a problem finding someone.

"This is relaxing." Seven sighed happily as she opened her eyes after pouring another bucket of water over her head. "I now find I enjoy baths much more than sonic showers."

"I know what you mean." B'Elanna agreed as she sat down on one of the cushions beside that bathing pool, waiting patiently for Seven to finish.

"I think I'm going to have some pancakes for breakfast." B'Elanna thought out loud. "How about you Seven?"

"May I try some pancakes as well?" Seven asked. This was another food she had not had the opportunity to try yet.

"Sure, computer two short stacks of banana pancakes, and a bottle of maple syrup." B'Elanna ordered the replicator.

The replicator beeped a couple of times as it filled the order. A few seconds later the smell of pancakes wafted through the room.

Seven finished her bath a few moments later and stood up. B'Elanna had already opened a towel for her and was holding it open. Seven waded out of the pond as B'Elanna wrapped the towel around her.

She was momentarily surprised when B'Elanna started rubbing the towel across her body to dry her off. Until this morning B'Elanna was a little uncomfortable with touching her when she was naked. She had not even seen B'Elanna naked yet. For some reason though Seven enjoyed it. She was usually uncomfortable with other people touching her, but she didn't mind if it was B'Elanna.

B'Elanna seemed to feel the same way because after Seven's revelation she wasn't nervous about touching Seven's naked body. She was actually starting to enjoy herself.

"There you go, all dry," B'Elanna said as she pulled away the towel.

"Thank you." Seven replied as she eyed the pancakes and maple syrup. The aroma was starting to make her hungry.

There was no actual table for them to use but there was a low coffee table with two cushions on either side.

Seven and B'Elanna brought their food to the table and sat down on the cushions.

After Seven watched B'Elanna literally devour her pancakes she followed suit at a slower pace.

When they finished B'Elanna went to the replicator again and started going through the replicator patterns for swim suits. After a few moments she found the only two swimsuits in the replicator.

"Have you found what you were looking for?" Seven asked curiously as she walked over to stand beside her.

"I think so, but they're a little revealing." B'Elanna said as she brought them up on screen.

They were a matching set of thong string bikinis. One of them was black and the other was white.

"So which one do you like?" B'Elanna asked as she realized that Seven was pretty much naked already, and a revealing swimsuit would only cover her up anyway.

"I believe I will wear the white one." Seven said as they appeared in the replicator. "B'Elanna, how do I wear this?" Seven asked as she held up the bikini. She had never seen a garment like this let alone know how to wear it.

B'Elanna hesitated for a moment. The easiest way to show Seven was to put the black one on herself to show her, but that would mean that she would be naked in front of Seven. She was a private enough person to find it at least a little uncomfortable.

On the other hand they were both in a very strange situation, and personal privacy was pretty much out the window. Seven had from the very beginning been comfortable with being naked in front of her. Truthfully it would all be much simpler if she just gave up the pretence. She wouldn't be naked all the time, just when it was necessary.

"I'll show you." B'Elanna said as she made her decision. She untied her robe and let it drop to the floor feeling a little nervous, but when she looked up at Seven all she saw was genuine curiosity on how to wear the swimsuit, which allowed B'Elanna to relax a little as she pulled out her swimsuit.

B'Elanna took the bikini bottom first and slipped it between her legs and pulled up the ties on one end then tied it in a bow, followed by the other end. She adjusted it slightly and picked up the top as Seven watched curiously.

B'Elanna took the two top ties and held them behind her neck as she tied them off. She then grabbed the lower ties and tied them together as well. "That's pretty much it." B'Elanna explained as she finished getting ready. "Give it a try."

Seven tried to follow B'Elanna's example but she was having trouble with tying the knots. Her bio-suits had zippers, so she had no reason to tie knots. It turned out that watching B'Elanna do something and doing it herself were two different things.

"Here." B'Elanna said as she took the ties from Seven and helped her tie it. In a few moments B'Elanna had Seven's bikini on, and adjusted for her.

"Thank you." Seven said. Thanks to their connection she had learned about, and more importantly the reason for manners.

"Don't mention it." B'Elanna said. It was weird but B'Elanna was actually finding she enjoyed doing this kind of stuff with Seven. "We should probably get you some sun screen as well."

"Do you not need sunscreen as well?" Seven asked curiously.

"Not really, your skin is a lot lighter than mine, and I'm also half Klingon. I don't really get sunburned." B'Elanna said as she pulled out a book, replicated a couple of beach towels, and some sun tan lotion. "Come on let's go." She said as she handed Seven the sun tan lotion and took her hand with her free hand and they walked out onto the beach.

There was already a large beach umbrella set up for when they were finished in the sun.

B'Elanna rolled out one of the beach towels under the beach umbrella and placed her book on it. Then she rolled out the second towel a couple feet away from the umbrella in the sun.

"Lie down." B'Elanna instructed. "I'll put some sun tan lotion on you." She offered.

Seven lay on her stomach obediently as B'Elanna knelt down beside her.

B'Elanna squirted some on her hands and rubbed them together to warm up the lotion a little before she applied it to Seven's skin.

She brought her hands down to Seven's neck and slowly started to work the lotion in with a slow circular motion. She moved down Seven's neck, reaching Seven's shoulders and arms, going midway down Seven's back before she applied more lotion to her hands.

B'Elanna could literally feel Seven's muscles melt under her touch, as it all took on a slightly more sensual tone.

B'Elanna's hands went lower as they finally reached Seven's waist, and reached lower as she rubbed Seven's ass before again reaching for more lotion.

B'Elanna then started to rub the lotion along Seven's thighs, pushed them apart slightly as she also rubbed the lotion into her inner thighs until she reached the bottoms of her bikini.

B'Elanna finally lifted Seven's legs up one by one as she applied a fresh layer of sun tan lotion on them as well.

Finally when B'Elanna was satisfied that Seven had enough sun tan lotion she leaned in until her lips were nearly touching Seven's. "Stay like that for a while. When you turn over I'll get your front too." She said as she lay down beside Seven.

Seven didn't respond. She just laid their in total relaxation.

It was almost an hour before the pair exchanged words. They both had a thin sheen of sweet on their bodies making them glisten in the sun as they watched the waves roll in.

"Ok Seven, I think it's time to roll over." B'Elanna said as she ran her hand down Seven's back and checked if she had started to burn.

Seven nodded as she rolled over onto her back. So far B'Elanna seemed to know what she was doing. She was however a little annoyed to find that B'Elanna was correct about not needing sun tan lotion. She didn't seem in the least bit bothered by the sun without the lotion.

B'Elanna again pulled out the sun tan lotion and squirted some into her hands. This time she started at Seven's toes as she lifted one leg into her hands and rubbed the lotion into them, slowly moving up her leg until she reached the bottom of the bikini, soon followed by the other leg.

B'Elanna's strong hands then began to run up and down Seven's waist as she worked the lotion in before straddling her legs and applying it to Seven's chest and arms before she leaned in to delicately apply it to her face.

"So how do you like sunbathing?" B'Elanna asked her lips only inches from Sevens. Her voice had a deeper timbre than she intended.

"I… enjoy it." Seven said momentarily flustered. It was only earlier today that a position like this would have made B'Elanna extremely nervous, but now she seemed so comfortable with it.

"Good." B'Elanna replied as she rolled off Seven and lay on her back beside her. "We wouldn't want you to get burned." She added.

Seven nodded as she closed her eyes and lay back and thought about B'Elanna's sudden change in attitude. B'Elanna was a private woman, and her sudden change of attitude was strange. She had assumed that B'Elanna would still be uncomfortable with how close they had to be for at least a few more months.

Seven's mind eventually began to wander as she lay in the sun beside B'Elanna. She eventually gave into the thoughts that B'Elanna was unconsciously sending her. It was too nice a day to worry about anything. They should just enjoy their shore leave.

If Seven had to guess it had been another hour the two of them lay their in the sun before she felt B'Elanna get off the blanket. She opened her eyes to see B'Elanna standing in front of her. She hadn't really given it much consideration before but B'Elanna was extremely powerful. She was stronger than even herself by a fair amount, and her increased height only added to that.

For some reason Seven knew however that B'Elanna wouldn't hurt her, and it wasn't just because of what happened to them. She couldn't explain it but every now and then she got the oddest feelings coming from B'Elanna. It was a possessive, caring, and almost territorial feeling all in one.

"It's time to get out of the sun." B'Elanna said as she extended her hand to Seven.

Seven reached out and took B'Elanna's hand. B'Elanna led her under the shade of the beach umbrella. B'Elanna sat down in the center of the towel, and motioned for Seven to lie across her lap.

Seven was a little surprised to find that there was more of a command behind the gesture. It wasn't an order, but more of a strong suggestion.

Seven shrugged mentally. It wasn't really that big of a deal anyway. She lay on her stomach across B'Elanna's lap and stared off into the Ocean as B'Elanna began to read her book.

A few moments later Seven felt B'Elanna's hand tracing along the edges of her bikini bottoms as she read, eventually turning it into a full caress, as her hand traced the curve of her ass.

B'Elanna's hand only left to turn the pages of her book, and immediately returned afterwards to continue its exploration.

Seven found she enjoyed the gentle caresses of B'Elanna and lost herself in the moment.

Soon Seven began to hear what B'Elanna was reading through their link. The older woman must have unknowingly relaxed her mind enough for Seven to peek through more clearly.

B'Elanna was reading a romance novel, and she had gotten to a particularly steamy scene between the two main characters.

Seven found herself feeling curious about what the two characters found so interesting about the kiss they were sharing. Could it really be as intense as B'Elanna's thoughts had made them seem?

Seven listened to B'Elanna's thoughts a few minutes longer before she couldn't hold back her curiosity any longer. She had to ask, "B'Elanna? What does a kiss feel like?"

B'Elanna was startled out of her reading by Seven's question it seemed to come out of nowhere. "Why do you want to know?"

"Your book, it depicts the two main characters engaged in a kiss. I have never felt a kiss before." Seven explained.

"You can hear those thoughts?" B'Elanna asked as her hand resumed its original activity. If it was anyone else that could do that B'Elanna would be in a rage by now, but Seven seemed to have become the exception to the rule.

"You allowed your mind to relax. It became easier to see what you were thinking." Seven added.

"Oh, well I guess the textbook definition is when two peoples lips touch, but it's kind of hard to describe how it feels. It's different for every person."

"Can you demonstrate?" Seven asked hopefully.

Did B'Elanna just hear right? Had Seven just asked her to kiss her? She had never kissed a woman before. Could she even do it right with a woman?

"I've never really kissed a woman before." B'Elanna admitted. "I may not be able to do it the same way." B'Elanna warned, surprised that she was actually considering it.

"Please." Seven said. She didn't know why she wanted to know what it felt like so much but she really wanted to know.

"Alright," B'Elanna finally relented as she let Seven change positions so she was straddling her. There lips were only a few inches apart, as B'Elanna stared into Seven's eyes.

B'Elanna slowly leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on Seven's lips before pulling back.

B'Elanna knew as soon as she pulled back it wasn't what Seven was expecting. She didn't even have to look at her to know that she was hoping for more in her first kiss.

Something in B'Elanna snapped in that moment. If Seven wanted a real first kiss she was going to give it to her.

Before Seven even had a chance to say something B'Elanna again claimed her lips as she wrapped one hand firmly around her waist and pulled her closer as the other hand ran through her hair as she leaned forward.

Seven was surprised as B'Elanna deepened the kiss, but quickly lost herself in the moment. It was just something about the way B'Elanna held her, she felt so small, so helpless, and so protected all at the same time.

B'Elanna leaned forward even more as her tongue began to explore Seven's mouth, and the younger woman felt her head touch the beach towel. Her legs were wrapped around B'Elanna's waist pulling her as close as possible to her as B'Elanna lay on top of her and continued to kiss her.

Finally the kiss ended, but B'Elanna made no move to let Seven up, still in the moment. "How was that?" She asked, not moving her lips more than an inch from Seven's.

"It… was…" Seven couldn't finish the sentence she had no way to describe it. All she knew was that she liked it.

"I know." B'Elanna agreed.

"May I try to kiss you now?" Seven asked. She wanted to see what it was like to be the one giving this kiss instead of receiving now.

B'Elanna nodded as she allowed Seven to place her hands on either side of her head and pull her lips back down onto hers.

Unlike B'Elanna's kiss which was more demanding and carnal Seven's was soft and uncertain. The kisses that Seven gave her were so light and delicate that it was a sharp contrast to B'Elanna's.

B'Elanna enjoyed it just as much as the kiss she gave Seven, the uncertainty that the younger woman had was making the kiss even better if possible.

B'Elanna couldn't take the soft and almost teasing kisses Seven was laying upon her lips anymore. She deepened the kiss, holding Seven's hands lightly above her head as her tongue entered Seven's mouth again and the younger woman surrendered to the sensual kiss.

It was almost a full minute later that the kiss had ended but B'Elanna made no move to let Seven up, and Seven never unwrapped her legs from around B'Elanna's waist.

It was like a damn had broken between the two of them. It felt like ever since all of this started it had been leading up to this, and neither one could explain it.

B'Elanna was having two very conflicting thoughts running through her head. She knew she wasn't gay, but she couldn't deny the fact that the kiss had affected her either. If she thought about any other woman she couldn't think of anything even remotely sexual she felt for them.

Seven on the other hand was a totally different issue, there was just something about her that she found so incredibly sexual, and it wasn't just the clothes she wore, or the lack of them in her quarters. B'Elanna would find Seven sexy, even if she was covered in packing tape, and wearing a box.

Similar thoughts were running through Seven's head as well. How could she feel an attraction for someone of the same sex? In none of the doctor's social lessons was the subject brought up. It was always a male and a female. Could the doctor have lied, or even forgotten to mention it?

B'Elanna knew that she should be feeling at least a little embarrassed about what had happened, but she wasn't. It was actually the complete opposite, she was glad that she did it, and was looking forward to the next time she was going to do it. She had none of the apprehension she knew she would be feeling normally.

"What will happen now?" Seven asked, ending the silence.

"I don't know." B'Elanna responded as she wondered how thing would go on Voyager. "We can figure it out later. I've been dying to try out that boat." B'Elanna changed the subject.

In one swift motion B'Elanna stood up with Seven still wrapped around her, and she walked towards the boat house.

It was as if Seven was as light as a feather to B'Elanna. Once she had a good grip she could probably carry the younger woman around for hours at a time.

Normally Seven would felt strange about being carried around like this, but she found herself enjoying the feeling of having B'Elanna's strong arms wrapped around her.

* * *

To Be Continued…

THOUGHTS/OPINIONS/QUESTIONS?

PLEASE REVIEW!


	6. Shore Leave III

To the Winner

Chapter Six

_Normally Seven would felt strange about being carried around like this, but she found herself enjoying the feeling of having B'Elanna's strong arms wrapped around her.

* * *

_

B'Elanna fumbled with the door to the boat house as she carried Seven inside with her. She hadn't even had a chance to look at the boat yet. She hoped that it wasn't just a dingy with an out board motor strapped to it.

"Wow," B'Elanna said as she got her first look at it. She could tell right away that dingy was the last word that she could use to describe it. It was actually closer to a yacht than a boat. It even had a cabin, and probably a washroom inside as well. B'Elanna couldn't wait to see how fast it could go.

"Do you know how to pilot this vessel?" Seven asked curiously as she looked it over herself.

"What's to know?" B'Elanna dismissed as she sat down in the drivers seat with Seven in her lap. "It's just like flying a shuttle without having to worry about going up or down."

"If you are sure," Seven said still not completely convinced of B'Elanna's skills.

"It's going to be fine." B'Elanna said as she flipped the switch to open the boathouse doors, and powered up the engine.

The yacht was actually designed closer to a space ship than an actual boat so B'Elanna had a shorter learning curve than she thought, and was able to pick up everything she didn't know relatively quickly.

The yacht slowly eased out of the boat house as it slowly began to pick up speed.

"This is so cool." B'Elanna said as looked down at the controls. "I can set the measure of speed for anything I want. It must have been pre-programmed with parts of Voyager's database." She said as she flipped through knots, miles, and even mach speeds before finally settling on kilometers.

"I see." Seven said as she wrapped her hands tightly to B'Elanna's waist. In a space ship Seven never really considered how fast she was actually going. On a yacht it was different however. She could hear the engine, she could see the wake they were creating in the water, and she could see the horizon fast approaching.

Seven glanced down at the speedometer to find that B'Elanna was at 80 kilometers, and steadily rising. "How fast are you planning to travel?" Seven asked over the sound of the engines.

"Where's your sense of adventure Seven?" B'Elanna laughed as she pushed the yacht up to 110 kilometers.

"I do not have a sense of adventure." Seven responded as tightened her grip on B'Elanna. She knew that B'Elanna was enjoying the fact that this was making her nervous.

"Don't worry Seven, this is the ocean, there isn't a single thing to hit for hundreds of kilometers." B'Elanna said as she pulled up an on screen map of the area they were in.

"You have to learn to relax," B'Elanna said as took one of her hands off the wheel and started to run it up and down Seven's thigh.

"B'Elanna," Seven said, never taking her eyes off the horizon. "Please keep both hands on the controls."

"Seven, its fine," B'Elanna admonished. "I am definitely going to have to find something to help you relax." She said, deciding not to move her hand from Seven's thigh.

"B'Elanna," Seven said as her eyes widened. "Stop the boat."

"What? What is it?" B'Elanna asked as she noticed the seriousness of Seven's tone as she slowed the boat down.

"There is an island," Seven said as looked towards the fast approaching horizon. She knew that B'Elanna would not be able to see it in time, but with her enhanced sight she was able to make it out, as well as the sharp rocks on the shore line, as well as the reef that could tear through the boat easily.

B'Elanna immediately cut the forward engines, and started up the reverse engines. Since the boat was designed more as a warp vessel than a boat the reverse engines could be used without tearing the boat in half.

B'Elanna kept a tight grip on Seven as the boat lurched forward and stopped suddenly, less than ten meters before the start of the reef.

"How did you see that?" B'Elanna asked. She could see the reef and the rocks now but at the speed they were going it was impossible.

"My ocular implant," Seven told her. "I can see in a wider spectrum than you."

"This island isn't on any map." B'Elanna said as she cycled through the different maps that were programmed into the ship's memory banks. "According to all of them we're in open water." B'Elanna said in confusion. How could all the maps be wrong?

"I am unsure," Seven said as she looked through the maps that B'Elanna was cycling through. "It is strange that a warp capable species would not have accurate maps of their own planet."

"I wonder how they could have missed something like this?" B'Elanna said as she gazed at the island. It wasn't a very large island, probably no more than 5 kilometers long, but it wasn't something that you could just miss.

B'Elanna and Seven nearly crashed into the island, and it was close to the beach house. How could it not be on any map?

"Come on Seven," B'Elanna said as she and Seven stood up. "I feel like exploring."

Seven was curious about the island herself, and didn't put up an argument to B'Elanna's decision.

B'Elanna and Seven waded across the reef onto the beach and looked around. The island was mostly flat. Small rock formations covered the one side of the island that looked like they led down to a series of caves. There were a few sparse trees covering the island, and not much else.

"How long do you wish to spend on this island?" Seven asked curiously. There really wasn't much to see.

"I don't know." B'Elanna said feeling a little disappointed. "I was kind of expecting it to be a little more exciting."

"It is only a small island B'Elanna. I do not believe it can even sustain any animal life." Seven pointed out.

"I know it's just that… I was kind of expecting, well more." B'Elanna said as she looked around.

"What else were you expecting?" Seven asked curiously. She didn't really see what was so special about the island other than the fact it wasn't on any map.

"Well it's going to sound like one of Tom's holo-novels, but maybe a reason why this island isn't on any map, maybe even buried treasure or an ancient artifact. I was just hoping for some kind of adventure." B'Elanna sighed. The entire island was kind of a let down.

"An adventure?" Seven asked. "We are lost and alone trapped in the delta quadrant with hostile species surrounding us, is that not enough adventure?"

"It isn't the same." B'Elanna said. "We do that every day. I was hoping for something new, something different."

"What did you have in mind?" Seven asked. She could tell that B'Elanna was kind of disappointed.

"Well we've already got the hero." B'Elanna said as she gestured to herself. "The beautiful woman," she said as she picked Seven up. "And the tropical island," she said as she spun them around to look at the island again. "All we need know is something to do on the island and we'll be set."

"Perhaps we should continue exploring." Seven suggested as she wrapped her arms around B'Elanna's neck. She didn't really expect them to find anything, but if it was important to B'Elanna it was important to her.

"Thanks," B'Elanna said as she leaned her head down and kissed Seven softly. It really helped her mood that Seven was willing to go along with this, even though they both knew that they really weren't going to find anything.

Kissing Seven had become so natural to B'Elanna now. She didn't even think about it anymore. A part of B'Elanna wondered what would happen when they got back to Voyager. She didn't really know if she could hold back if she wanted to kiss Seven when they were on duty.

Similar thoughts were running through Seven's head as well, she liked it when B'Elanna held her, and kissed her. Whenever B'Elanna held her like this she didn't feel quite so alone anymore. She didn't need the many voices of the collective to comfort her, she was content.

"I think there's a cave over there." B'Elanna said as she walked towards the center of the island where the largest rock formation was.

"I see it." Seven said as she used her ocular implant. "It extends 0.23 kilometers inside."

"So you feel like taking a look?" B'Elanna asked as she approached the opening of the cave. It did look like it went down pretty far.

"How will you see?" Seven asked curiously. She knew that she could use her implant to see, but B'Elanna would be blind.

"I don't have to." B'Elanna said. "If I can use your nano-probes, then I should be able to use your ocular implant as well."

"You have never attempted conscious control over my body. So far it has only been vocal or subconscious commands. I believe for you to use my ocular implant you must take full control of me." Seven pointed out.

"Well I guess now is a good a time as any to try it out." B'Elanna said. "Do you have any tips?" B'Elanna knew that Seven had more experience when it came to using thought alone to do something because of her time with the Borg.

"Concentrate on my body. Use your mind to take control of me. Visualize a door that connects my will to my body and close it." Seven instructed as best she could.

"You trust me enough to do that?" B'Elanna asked. She in essence had the power to take complete control over Seven's body for as long as she wanted, and Seven was telling her how to do it.

"There is a chance that the Borg could re-assimilate me remotely." Seven answered. "I would not be able to harm you, but there is a chance that I could harm others before you stopped me.

My Borg systems have no defense against you B'Elanna, the Borg never conceived of this scenario. You are capable of direct control over my systems, every single implant, and nano-probe.

It is my hope that you could hardwire them to respond only to you." Seven explained.

"Ok, let's give it a shot." B'Elanna said. She felt no small amount of pride that Seven trusted her with something so important.

B'Elanna closed her eyes as she felt out Seven's mind. She felt every connection from the younger woman's mind, all the connections that linked their minds together.

B'Elanna could see two distinct colors in the links. There was a bright red that symbolized the connections that ran from her mind to her body, and a bright blue light that connected Seven's mind to her body.

There were a few differences though. A large grouping of her red links went directly to Seven's mind. They were thicker, and stronger than the other ones. From Seven's mind they split off, each intertwined with Seven's blue links.

They showed the mental dominance her mind had over Seven's, and also illustrated the way that Seven was able to perceive her thoughts. Seven's mind was using the red links, since they were so interwoven with her own to read her thoughts. Since the links did not belong to Seven, and there were no main blue links interwoven with them she could only travel along them, and not assert any kind of control over them.

B'Elanna knew that she was only a beginner at this. She was only using the mental programming that the micro-organisms had created. They were rudimentary, as well as a little crude. She knew that given time she and Seven could probably organize it better.

The possibilities were endless really. B'Elanna was beyond any kind of security that Seven's Borg systems could even perceive. She had more complete level access to Seven's nano-probes than even she did.

As B'Elanna examined the links she began to realize that Seven's 'close the door' analogy didn't seem to really apply to the situation. Seven's experience was drawn from Borg technology using thought to control drones. This was much more advanced, or at least had the potential to be. It wasn't as simple as closing a door.

B'Elanna had to turn off Seven's links to claim control over her. She had done it unconsciously in the beginning but she was starting to see how much different it was to see what she was doing. There were so many more things that had to be done. Every command that she gave Seven had literally millions of sub commands that were opening to her now. It was all a little overwhelming.

"Concentrate on what you have to do." B'Elanna told herself as she began to shut down Seven's links.

They blue light around the links faded as the red links grew a little brighter around them. B'Elanna could literally feel Seven's mind retreating inwards as she shut down the mental links.

B'Elanna felt what Seven felt now. She felt her own hands holding Seven up from her perspective. She saw out of Seven's eyes as well as her own. She was even able to feel that Seven was probably going to be hungry soon.

It was a lot of information to take in, but her mind seemed to be able to do the job. Seven's body felt so connected to her own mind that it didn't even faze her that she was looking out of four sets of eyes and still be able to process what she saw.

"Seven, can you feel anything?" B'Elanna asked. She wondered if Seven could feel her body in the current state that she was in.

"No." B'Elanna heard the response in her mind. "I am able to connect to your mind through the main links but I am unable to assert any kind of control over my body. It is as if I can only observe what is happening."

"Then it worked." B'Elanna said as she used Seven's ocular implant. B'Elanna could tell how Seven was able to see the island from so far away now. Her implant allowed her to see in so many different ways that it was impossible to miss it.

Even as B'Elanna looked into the cave she could still see everything so clearly, it was amazing.

B'Elanna stepped into the cave and started walking. She noticed after just a few minutes she couldn't see out of her own eyes. She was now completely relying on Seven's implant.

B'Elanna was actually starting to get back in the adventure mood the further they went down into the cave. It reminded her of when she was a kid again. She loved to explore back then.

Seven floated patiently between her mind and B'Elanna's as they continued to explore the cave. They were almost to the end of the cave now, and B'Elanna seemed to be getting more and more excited.

"I think we're close to the end." B'Elanna said as she stopped moving. "I think I can just make out a larger round room at the end."

"You are correct." Seven agreed. She had been keeping track of how far they had gone, and could also make out the larger section at the end of the cave.

"Do you think we'll find anything?" B'Elanna asked curiously as they stood in front of the entrance to the cave chamber.

"I doubt it." Seven said honestly. The probability of them actually finding anything at the bottom of a cave was extremely low.

B'Elanna knew that Seven was only being honest so she didn't take what she said personally as she stepped into the cave.

It was harder for light to enter the inner chamber so B'Elanna and Seven had a hard time seeing. Seven's implant only enhanced the amount of light that was there. This far into the cave there wasn't much.

"Seven is there any way to make it brighter in here?" B'Elanna asked.

"Allow as much light as possible to enter the inner chamber." Seven instructed.

B'Elanna stepped to the side, and pressed her back against the wall. She stepped back immediately as she felt something.

It felt like a wooden pole that was attached to the wall. B'Elanna used a free hand to pull on it.

B'Elanna and Seven heard a click as B'Elanna pulled on it, but it didn't come loose. After a second pull B'Elanna saw a spark before the entire chamber was light up.

The pole that B'Elanna pulled was a primitive switch. There must have been something similar to lighter fluid running between the torches because when one lit so did all the others.

The entire room was bathed in the light of the torches.

"I knew we could find something." B'Elanna said as she looked around the room.

"B'Elanna, may I move again?" Seven asked. The way that B'Elanna had taken over her body required an active decision on B'Elanna's part.

"Oh sure Seven," B'Elanna said as she closed her eyes and visualized the mental links that they shared.

B'Elanna visualized her red links slowly pulling back from Seven's blue links. Seven's links lighted up again as she regained control of her body and B'Elanna lowered her to the ground.

"Your control is improving." Seven observed as she looked around the room. "You were able to manipulate the mental links much quicker this time."

"Thanks," B'Elanna said as she noticed a small chest in the far corner of the room. She walked over to it and picked it up.

The chest wasn't very big, and it was covered in dust, and had an old rust lock on it. B'Elanna doubted she could even pick the lock open at this point. The rust seemed to have fused it together.

"What do you think is inside?" B'Elanna asked as she spun the box around as she looked at it.

"Perhaps we can find out at the beach house. The lock appears to be rusted shut. It will need to be cut off." Seven suggested.

"Good idea." B'Elanna said as she handed the chest to Seven and removed one of the torches from the wall. Taking Seven's free hand B'Elanna led them out of the cave.

Seven and B'Elanna returned to the boat and headed back towards the beach house. Their adventure had taken a little longer than either of them had thought. It was getting close to sunset, and they were both starting to get hungry.

B'Elanna also wanted to find out what was in the chest as well, and they didn't have the tools they needed to cut the lock on the boat.

It was a fairly quick trip back to the beach house, and B'Elanna immediately set to work on the lock.

"What do you expect to find?" Seven asked curiously. She hadn't even thought they would find anything.

"I'm not really sure. For all we know it could just be an old map or" B'Elanna paused for a moment "pirate treasure." B'Elanna grinned as she replicated a pair of bolt cutters and snapped the lock.

B'Elanna opened the lid and peered inside. There were a couple of things inside, but there was so much dirt and dust inside as well it was hard to tell.

"What is inside?" Seven asked curiously.

"I'm not really sure," B'Elanna admitted as she pulled out the two items. "I think it might be some jewelry."

B'Elanna removed a very dusty looking metal bracer, and what she assumed was a waist chain.

"I think we need to clean these off first." B'Elanna said as she replicated some jewelry cleaner as well.

B'Elanna soaked both in the jewelry cleaner and gently rubbed them until all the dirt was removed.

The bracer looked like it would fit B'Elanna easily enough. It was about three inches long, and was covered in ornate designs depicting the sun. It was all in a tribal design, and the sun was a darker almost black metal that stood in contrast to the shiny platinum material of the rest of the bracer.

The waist chain was also interesting. It was made of large square links that were about an inch in length. They attached together to look like a single piece of platinum, but had the mobility to twist around easily. From the center of the chain two smaller links went down to connect to a small ornate sun that matched the bracer, and looked to be made of the same material.

"Not bad for an afternoon's treasure hunting." B'Elanna commented as she washed off the jewelry. "So witch one do you like Seven?" B'Elanna asked. She hoped that Seven would pick the waist chain. Personally she thought it would look really sexy on Seven.

"I like the waist chain." Seven replied almost immediately. With the link she could easily tell which one B'Elanna wanted her to pick.

B'Elanna looked at Seven and wondered why she answered so quickly before she realized why. "You heard that thought?"

Seven only nodded in response as B'Elanna dried off the waist chain.

A few seconds later Seven found herself the bearer of a very expensive looking waist chain. It fit perfectly around Seven's waist, and ornate black sun rested overtop of her bellybutton.

B'Elanna put the bracer on and began to admire it as well. She wrapped her arm around Seven's waist so that it was touching the waist chain. She had to admit that they looked really good together.

Seven leaned into B'Elanna as she felt the other woman's arm encircle her waist. She never understood why others enjoyed jewelry, as far as she was concerned it was just another shinny rock, but if B'Elanna liked it then that was reason enough.

Seven felt B'Elanna's free hand move after a moment. It traveled across her stomach and up her side until it reached tie of her bikini tops. A couple of tugs later the top was hanging loosely across Seven's chest. The top then slowly dropped to Seven's feet as B'Elanna pulled it loose.

Seven sighed softly as B'Elanna's fingers traced softly between her breast and down her stomach, coming to rest on one of the ties of her bikini bottoms.

B'Elanna removed the tie, then slowly ran her fingers across Seven's stomach pulling of the other one until the only thing holding the bikini bottom to Seven was their bodies pressed together.

B'Elanna gently pulled the bikini bottom from Seven's body and it joined the pile as well.

Seven turned around to face B'Elanna as she felt the older woman's arms wrap loosely around her.

Seven put her arms on B'Elanna's shoulders looked into her eyes as her chest pressed up against B'Elanna's.

Seven traced her hands down B'Elanna's strong shoulder and back until she found the tie for B'Elanna's bikini top. A few quick tugs and Seven was able to pull it away from B'Elanna's body and the top joined the quickly growing pile on the floor.

Never breaking eye contact with B'Elanna Seven hands traced down B'Elanna sides until she found the ties to her bikini bottoms. Seven slowly unraveled them until the strings hung loosely in her fingers. Seven pulled the bikini from B'Elanna's body and let it drop to the pile of clothes at their feet.

B'Elanna didn't say a word to Seven as she led her to the bathing pond. She stepped into the sunken tub, pressing her back against the wall, and Seven took her place between B'Elanna's legs, her back to B'Elanna's chest.

B'Elanna picked up the sponge beside the bathing pond and poured some liquid soap over it. She watched as the soap lathered across Seven's body, making her skin glisten.

She moved the sponge slowly over Seven's ample chest, down her flat stomach and across her legs and thighs as Seven leaned into her comfortably.

Seven lay still as B'Elanna bathed her, it was easily the most sensual thing that she had ever done, and B'Elanna seemed to be an expert at making it as sexy as possible.

"Turn around Seven," B'Elanna instructed in a husky voice as she finished washing Seven's front.

Seven obediently turned around on B'Elanna's lap so that she was now straddling her. As she lay her head down on B'Elanna's shoulder she felt the warm soapy sponge glide up down her back and over her ass.

B'Elanna was going out of her mind with desire as she bathed Seven's warm soapy body. It took every once of her will power not to take Seven right there, she new that it was going to be Seven's first time, and she wanted her to enjoy it as much as possible.

As soon as B'Elanna finished bathing Seven, she started to get up, only to be stopped by Seven who gently pushed her back down.

Seven took the sponge from B'Elanna's hands. Still straddling her, she applied more soap to the sponge, and started running it up and down B'Elanna's chest, neck, and stomach in a slow circular motion.

After there was a thick layer of soap across B'Elanna's body Seven slid off of B'Elanna's lap, kneeling between her legs.

Seven gently lifted one of B'Elanna's legs out of the water, and held it above the water as she continued to bath her cleanse her with the sponge.

B'Elanna could only lean back and close her eyes as Seven continued her gentle ministrations. She loved this feeling. Seven just knew all the right things to do to make her feel completely relaxed, and if possible even more turned on.

B'Elanna sighed in contentment as Seven lifted her other foot up and ran the sponge over it as well.

"B'Elanna, turn around." Seven instructed as she put more soap onto the sponge.

B'Elanna knelt down beside Seven, and turned around so that Seven could do her back as well.

Seven rubbed the sponge down B'Elanna's back, her hands gently touching the well defined muscles on B'Elanna's back, and then rubbing down her ass as well.

Finally when Seven was finished B'Elanna turned around to see that Seven still had some soap on her body. She picked up the wooden bucket beside the bathing pond, and filled it up.

She gently tiled Seven's head back, and slowly poured the bucket on top of her head, watching as the soap dripped down Seven's body.

Seven opened her eyes and when the bucket was emptied and took it from B'Elanna and did the same for her.

When the last of the soap was washed off of their bodies, B'Elanna stood up in the pond, giving her hand to Seven to pull her up as well.

The pair slowly waded out of the tub, B'Elanna picking up a towel, and very sensuously rubbed the water from Seven's body making sure she got every last drop.

After B'Elanna was finished Seven picked up another towel and did the same for B'Elanna, also kneeling in front of B'Elanna to dry her legs as well.

Finally B'Elanna couldn't help herself anymore. She lifted Seven into her arms, the towel forgotten as she carried Seven to the bed.

She dropped Seven on the bed, and crawled over top of her. B'Elanna leaned down to kiss her as Seven molded herself to her body.

B'Elanna deepened the kiss as her tongue parted Seven's lips. Her hands found their way to Seven's chest as she stroked her breasts, and tugged on her nipples lightly.

Suddenly a thought struck B'Elanna. This was the first time that she found herself attracted to a woman, and the first time that she had ever felt this attracted to anyone. It was almost like it wasn't natural.

B'Elanna suddenly found herself pulling back, and getting off the bed as she started to think about everything that had happened.

Was it possible that the micro organisms and the inverse tacron particles had also caused both of them to feel physically attracted to each other?

"B'Elanna?" Seven asked not sure of what had just happened. She couldn't even feel what B'Elanna was thinking, she was purposely blocking her thoughts from her.

"Seven, I want you to stay on that bed. Don't leave until I say so." B'Elanna said as she walked to the shower.

"Yes B'Elanna," Seven said obediently. She was more than a little confused about what had just happened.

Seven watched as B'Elanna walked to the shower, and closed the door. She heard the shower turn on and B'Elanna didn't come back for a long time.

B'Elanna sighed under her cold shower. This was the only way that she could get herself under control. What had just happened? Where did all these feelings for Seven come from?

B'Elanna took her robe off the hanger and slipped it on before stepping out again.

Seven remained exactly where she had told her to. She just seemed very confused about the way that B'Elanna had acted.

"B'Elanna have I done something to displease you?" She asked.

"Seven," B'Elanna sighed as she wondered how to explain this to Seven.

"I have never been attracted to a woman before." B'Elanna finally said. "I don't know if it's me or if it's because of what happened to us."

"You are talking about the organisms," Seven deduced.

"Yeah, have you been attracted to women before this?" B'Elanna asked curiously. Even now she felt the desire for Seven.

"No," Seven admitted. "Before this I did not feel any kind of sexual attraction to anyone."

"No one?" B'Elanna asked. She hadn't been expecting that response.

"Emotions are confusing," Seven admitted. "I did not even begin to fully understand them until recently."

"What do you think is going to happen… if it is the organisms?" B'Elanna asked. She knew that the feelings she had for Seven were getting stronger, and she didn't know how long she could hold herself back.

"I am uncertain, but I believe that the feelings will get stronger over time." Seven said. "But it may be possible for the doctor to control it with medication."

"I think that we're going to have to cut our vacation short, we're going to have to get back to Voyager tomorrow." B'Elanna said.

Seven nodded her agreement as B'Elanna took of her robe and got on the bed with her.

B'Elanna spooned Seven as she placed both of her arms around Seven's waist and tucked her leg in between Seven's.

"Goodnight Seven," B'Elanna said as pulled the covers over them and kissed seven softly on the cheek before she could stop herself.

"Goodnight B'Elanna," Seven said as she closed her eyes.

* * *

To Be continued… 


	7. Payback's a Bitch II

To The Winner

Chapter Seven

"_Goodnight Seven," B'Elanna said as pulled the covers over them and kissed seven softly on the cheek before she could stop herself._

"_Goodnight B'Elanna," Seven said as she closed her eyes.

* * *

_

B'Elanna woke up the next morning with a sigh of contentment. It was only that small amount of time right after waking up, and right before she started the day that she felt truly relaxed.

She closed her eyes as she thought about how soft and warm Seven was. This early in the day it hadn't even crossed her mind that she was cupping Seven's breasts, and if her suspicions were correct they she really shouldn't be doing what she was doing now.

B'Elanna pulled Seven closer, laying a kiss on her neck, as she just enjoyed the moment. She was pretty sure that for once she was awake before Seven, and she wanted to enjoy that.

B'Elanna held Seven for a few moments longer, until the inevitable happened, and Seven woke up. "B'Elanna?" Seven asked with a slight yawn.

Seven was used to being the first one to wake up, and was a little surprised to find B'Elanna still in bed with her. She would have thought that B'Elanna would already be up and starting the day.

"What is it Seven?" B'Elanna asked, deciding to stay in bed a little longer.

"You are up early," Seven pointed out.

"I know, I think that we should get an early start." B'Elanna said. "We need to find out what's happening to us."

"May I get up?" Seven asked, considering their current position. She couldn't really do anything unless B'Elanna let her up.

In truth B'Elanna didn't really want to let Seven up, she was way too comfortable the way she was, but she also knew that what they had to do was important. She also knew that it wouldn't get done if they spent the rest of the morning in bed so she reluctantly let Seven stand up.

She rolled over onto her stomach, and couldn't help but feel a strong desire for Seven as she watched her walk to the bathing pond, and kneel beside it.

Seven cupped some water in her hands and splashed it on her face, as she washed the sleep from her eyes.

B'Elanna knew it was probably the organisms that were making her feel this way about Seven, and it was wrong to do what she was thinking. A small part of her didn't care though, a part that was getting bigger everyday. If things continued the way they were going she didn't know how much longer she could control herself.

B'Elanna got off the bed, and walked over to Seven, kneeling down beside her, she decided to wash her face as well.

Seven watched as B'Elanna walked over, and picked up one of the hand towels. She dipped it in the water and delicately rubbed it across B'Elanna's face.

B'Elanna sighed as Seven washed her face for her. Things were getting so complicated. Her emotions seemed to be all over the place. She couldn't deny that she found Seven attractive, as well as the fact that there was a good chance that the feelings she had were largely artificial, which wasn't really fair for her or Seven. What were they going to do when the organisms wore off? She doubted very much that they could go back to the way that things were, not after everything that had happened.

"Are you alright B'Elanna?" Seven asked as she finished washing B'Elanna's face. She had heard the sigh, and seen the look of deep concentration on B'Elanna's face.

"How can you stand this Seven?" B'Elanna asked. "Do you feel the same way that I do, about what happened to us?"

"Yes I feel a strong attraction to you, as well as feeling myself becoming submissive to you. I also believe that the organisms are creating these feelings artificially." Seven agreed.

"I'm sorry Seven," B'Elanna said as she pulled her into her lap and put her arms around Seven's waist, resting her chin on Seven's shoulder. "This isn't something that you should have to go through. You had enough problems before all this started."

"This is not your fault B'Elanna." Seven leaned into B'Elanna. "No one knew this could happen, not even the Garians."

"Chakotay made us fight." B'Elanna pointed out petulantly.

"You also broke his jaw in two places and knocked him out." Seven reminded her with a smirk.

"I still think I should have been able kick him in the balls." B'Elanna continued.

"Perhaps we should have breakfast?" Seven suggested.

"Yeah… okay Seven." B'Elanna said as she let her up reluctantly and watched her go the replicator.

A few minutes later Seven came back with a tray of food. B'Elanna looked up to see that Seven had a tray full of fruits, some of them were from earth, and other looked like they were local to Garia.

Seven put the tray down in front of B'Elanna, and then returned a moment later with two glasses of juice.

When Seven sat down again B'Elanna pulled her into her lap. "You like fruit a lot don't you Seven?" She had noticed that most of Seven's food choices seemed to revolve around fruits or vegetables.

"You do not like fruit?" Seven asked as B'Elanna wrapped her arm around Seven's waist again.

"No fruit is good. I'm just wondering why you haven't tried anything less healthy." B'Elanna asked as she popped a grape into her mouth.

"Why would I wish to eat something that isn't healthy?" Seven asked curiously as she had a strawberry.

"Seven, I am going to have to teach you about a little something called chocolate." B'Elanna said with a smile.

Seven and B'Elanna continued to talk quietly as they had the rest of their breakfast, but eventually they both realized that they couldn't put it off any longer. They had to find out what was going on.

Seven and B'Elanna walked to the replicator where B'Elanna had a new uniform made, and replicated a new bio-suit for Seven, this time picking out a white one.

Seven eyed it for a moment before putting it on. She had never chosen white. It would be difficult to keep it clean.

"What's the matter Seven?" B'Elanna asked as recognized the look on Seven's face.

"This bio-suit will be difficult to keep clean." Seven pointed out, wondering why B'Elanna had chosen that color.

"Well then," B'Elanna smirked. "I guess you're just going to have to leave my engines alone when we get back."

"I see." Seven said thinly, as she realized what B'Elanna was doing. B'Elanna knew that she preferred to look clean, which was why she wore a darker colored bio-suit whenever she worked in engineering. With this bio-suit she knew that that would be impossible.

"Why did you not just order me not to work in engineering?" Seven asked. It would have been the more efficient way to do it.

"Well if I ordered you not to work in engineering you would have to do it because of what the organisms did to us, and not because the head of engineering told you not to." B'Elanna laughed. She enjoyed it when she was able to pull one over Seven.

"Your argument is illogical." Seven pointed out. "You ordered me to wear this bio-suit because you knew that it would become soiled easily, knowing that I do not wish to appear unclean it is the same as ordering me not to work in engineering."

"No it isn't, you can work as much as you want in engineering. I just get to choose what you wear while you're working in engineering." B'Elanna smiled.

"Yes B'Elanna," Seven finally said, annoyed that for the moment there was nothing she could do about it. In retrospect she probably shouldn't have said anything to help Chakotay. She knew that something like that could only work once.

"Don't be like that Seven," B'Elanna said still smiling as she hugged Seven, kissing her cheek. "There's no shame in being beaten by the best," she said knowing that it would annoy Seven even more.

Seven decided not to say anything, knowing that it would only encourage B'Elanna, especially considering that the last thing B'Elanna said was done specifically to annoy her.

Seven rested her head against B'Elanna's should and closed her eyes allowing B'Elanna to support her.

"Two to beam up," B'Elanna said as they returned back to Voyager.

B'Elanna and Seven appeared in a swirl of blue light aboard Voyager, giving ensign Dalby a strange sight to see. Apparently what had happened to Seven and B'Elanna wasn't common knowledge yet to the entire crew, probably because they were on the island for the last few days.

"As you were ensign," B'Elanna said as she took Seven's hand and led her to the doctor as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

A few minutes later they found themselves in sick bay with the doctor already active going over what looked like some medical reports.

"Doc, we need you to do another scan of us," B'Elanna said, causing the doctor to look up.

"B'Elanna, Seven? I though you still had another day of vacation left?" The doctor asked.

"We do, but we think that the organisms have done something else," B'Elanna answered.

"What did they do?" The doctor asked as he pulled out a tri-coder and scanned them both.

"This isn't possible," the doctor said as he scanned them both a second time. "The organisms should have stopped. They were only supposed to create a physical and mental bond between you."

"What is happening doctor?" Seven asked. The tone that the doctor was using was starting to worry her.

"When I first scanned the organism all that they should have been able to do was create the mental and physical bonds, they lacked the complexity to do what they have done." The doctor said.

"What did your scan show this time?" B'Elanna asked, already knowing the answer.

"Now it looks like the organisms are manipulating your body chemistries, specifically physical attraction." The doctor confirmed what they both were thinking.

"There isn't any chance that it's real then." B'Elanna said quietly. This might have been easier to deal with if at least some part of the emotions they were feeling were real."

"I'm sorry B'Elanna, Seven there isn't. B'Elanna your sexual preference is heterosexual. It's too well ingrained into you. It isn't something you can just suddenly change your mind about."

"What about Seven?" B'Elanna asked. It would be horrible if Seven developed actual affection for her, and when this was over to just have it disappear as if wasn't even there to begin with.

"I honestly don't know." The doctor admitted. "I'm sorry Seven. It's difficult for me to make an assumption on your sexual preference. You were only recently separated from the collective. You may not have even developed a sexual preference yet."

"What will happen now?" Seven asked, not knowing how to handle that.

"We'll figure it out together Seven," B'Elanna said as she came up behind her and wrapped her arms around Seven's waist.

Seven sighed as she leaned into B'Elanna. She knew that she was only feeling calmed and safe because of B'Elanna. It hurt to know that it was all a lie though. It was all artificial.

"The feeling you have will get stronger over time," the doctor answered Seven's question. "I can't tell for sure what will happen, but the attraction… it will cause you to… until we find a way to manage it, the attraction will grow to the point that you have sex, even if one of you doesn't."

Seven's breath hitched at those words. It was another thing that she could add to the list, something else that she wasn't allowed to choose.

B'Elanna knew immediately that the doctor was talking about her. Because of what the organisms had done she was the only one that had even some semblance of a choice in this. She knew that if she told Seven to stop she would, but the same couldn't be said about her.

Then Seven did something that shocked all of them, she started crying. B'Elanna turned her around and hugged her, while the doctor scanned Seven's head.

He stopped a moment later, "Seven your emotional inhibitor has been bypassed."

Seven didn't respond as she put her head on B'Elanna's shoulder and continued to cry softly.

"What are you talking about doc?" B'Elanna asked. She didn't know very much about Seven's Borg implants.

"The Borg implanted Seven with an emotional inhibitor. It's used to suppress her emotions. When I originally noticed the implant it was hardwired to the rest of Seven's implants. If I even tried to remove it, it would have killed Seven." The doctor said.

"The organisms couldn't create an attraction if Seven's emotions were suppressed." B'Elanna realized.

Seven didn't know what to do. She was being held in the arms of the person that she would have to have sex with, and right now it was the only place that she felt safe.

As Seven continued to sob B'Elanna was getting upset herself. Seven crying had quickly become the worst possible thing in her eyes, something she never wanted to see again, but knew that it would be something that she just couldn't stop.

Eventually the upset feeling turned to anger, not at Seven, but the situation that they found themselves in. This was just one more thing that Seven couldn't have. What made it worse was that Seven knew exactly what she was going to loose, and it wouldn't be long before she remembered all the other things that she had lost.

That idiot Chakotay did this, if he hadn't turned into such an asshole none of this ever would have happened! They had to go through this all because he wanted to go on some kind of power trip.

"Seven, stay with the doc." B'Elanna ordered in an even tone, far more calmly than she should have been able to considering the situation.

Seven didn't have a chance to say anything as B'Elanna walked out the door.

B'Elanna stormed down the corridor as she made her way to the bridge. Anyone that saw here quickly backed away. No one had ever seen B'Elanna so angry.

The doors opened to the bridge, and B'Elanna stepped out.

"B'Elanna I thought that you still had another day of shore leave?" Harry asked his friend with a smile.

B'Elanna ignored Harry as she walked up to Chakotay with a glare.

"Is everything okay B'Elanna?" The Captain asked. She didn't like the look on B'Elanna face one bit.

B'Elanna didn't say anything as she picked Chakotay up by his collar, which was definitely something to see. He was actually being held up about six inches above the ground.

"What the hell are you doing Lieutenant?" Chakotay asked angrily as he tried to break B'Elanna's grip.

B'Elanna pulled her fist back and sent it flying at Chakotay's breaking it for a second time and dropped him to the floor. He was already out by the time he hit the floor.

Tuvok was the quickest to react as he pulled out his phaser and tried to stun B'Elanna. Unfortunately because of all the changes that she had recently undergone the phaser blast was only it enough to make her pause for a second.

Janeway slapped her com badge next. "Computer beam Lieutenant Torres to the brig." She shouted.

B'Elanna had just enough time for one more kick before she disappeared in a sparkle of blue light.

Janeway knelt down next to Chakotay checking him over. His jaw was definitely broken again, and so were a couple of his ribs.

"Computer beam Chakotay to sick bay." The captain ordered as she headed to sick bay herself.

The doctor and Seven were wondering what was going on when Chakotay appeared on the bio-bed.

The doctor immediately moved to Chakotay's side, checking him over before pulling out a bone knitter and getting to work.

Seven having pieced together what had just happened, took a step back trying to figure out why B'Elanna had done that, and what would happen to her because of it.

It was a few minutes later that the Captain appeared, trying to find out what had caused all this, though she had to wait until Chakotay regained consciousness.

Almost an hour later the doctor had finished healing Chakotay and he had finally woken up. It took him a few minutes to get his bearings but after that he was spitting mad.

"That bitch broke my jaw again!" Chakotay seethed as he stood up. "You put her up to this didn't you?" Chakotay said as he rounded on Seven.

Seven didn't respond at first, and for the first time the Captain and the doctor noticed how pail she was, and the fact that she was leaning heavily on the wall for support.

"Seven are you okay?" The doctor asked.

"I have been apart from B'Elanna too long," Seven said as her breathing began to get a little labored.

"What happened Seven?" The Captain asked. "B'Elanna just walked onto the bridge and attacked Chakotay."

Chakotay's face flushed a little as he was reminded that B'Elanna had beaten him up for a second time.

"I do not know. B'Elanna ordered me to stay with the doctor and she left." Seven responded.

The Captain's com badge chirped. "Captain something's wrong with B'Elanna." The worried voice of ensign Trelby came over the com.

"What's wrong?" Janeway asked.

"She just went crazy. She's yelling and pounding on the force field. I had to bring it up to a level two because of all the times she's hit it so far."

"I'm on my way." The Captain said as she left sickbay, followed by the doctor, Chakotay, and Seven.

A few minutes later they all arrived in sickbay to see B'Elanna pounding furiously on the force field, but as soon as she saw Seven she started clawing and kicking at it more vigorously, trying to claw her way out.

Everyone but Seven took a step back when they saw this, a little taken back by the way that B'Elanna was acting.

"This is strange," the doctor said as he looked between Seven and B'Elanna. While Seven was looking weaker B'Elanna seemed to be loosing all semblance of rational thought, as she frantically tried to get to Seven, smashing her fists against the force field with enough force to break through solid concrete.

"Seven you have to go to B'Elanna." The doctor said as he noticed that both of their conditions were deteriorating quickly.

"Are you crazy doctor?" Chakotay asked as he looked at B'Elanna again. "If Seven goes in there B'Elanna could kill her."

"If she doesn't go in there, both of them are going to be dead." The doctor snapped as both men turned to face the Captain waiting for the final decision.

The Captain stared between B'Elanna and Seven. She could tell that what was happening to the two women was steadily getting worse by the minute.

"Seven what do you want to do?" Janeway finally asked.

"I need to be with B'Elanna." Seven responded immediately.

"If you go in we won't be able to get you out until B'Elanna calms down." Janeway warned.

"I understand." Seven said.

Janeway nodded to Trelby, telling him to proceed.

Trelby changed the modulation of the force field so that Seven could step through but neither one of them could step out and nodded to Seven.

Seven paused for a moment as she looked at B'Elanna. She was still clawing at the shield, trying to get to her. Seven took a deep breath as she walked into the cell.

The second she was in B'Elanna grabbed a hold of her and pulled her further in.

Seven tried to use her link to find out what was happening to B'Elanna, but every time she tried it felt like she was hitting a wall. It didn't even seem like B'Elanna was even purposely trying to stop her, she didn't know how else to describe it.

B'Elanna's hands moved over Seven's body in frustration, her conscious mind being overwhelmed by the separation of their physical link.

Try as she might in B'Elanna's current state she could not understand how to create a stronger link, eventually she just started tugging at Seven's bio-suit, realizing that it was what was blocking their connection. Unfortunately the bio-suit fit a little too snugly to be simply pulled off so B'Elanna didn't have much luck.

Seven wasn't really sure how to handle the situation, she new that they needed to make a stronger physical connection but she wasn't sure how B'Elanna would react.

The inevitable happened as B'Elanna continued to pull at Seven's bio-suit, and it split right down the front exposing Seven's chest.

B'Elanna finally having found a way to increase their physical connection tore off her own uniform jacket then started pulling harder on the seems of Seven's bio-suit, tearing more of the bio-suit from Seven's body.

"Maybe we can stun B'Elanna." Chakotay suggested as they were forced to watch from the outside of the cell.

"No." The doctor said immediately. "The amount of force necessary to stun B'Elanna may also be enough to kill Seven in her current state."

"Then what do you suggest doctor?" The Captain asked. There just didn't seem to be any easy answers to what was happening.

"There really isn't anything we can do we can only wait." The doctor said.

B'Elanna finally tore of the last piece of Seven's bio-suit in triumph, and set down Seven in her lap so that Seven was straddling her and wrapped one arm around Seven's waist so that their chests were pressed together.

B'Elanna claimed Seven's lips in a searing kiss as she felt their link finally start to strengthen as she pulled Seven up tightly against her chest.

Seven didn't respond at first, since she couldn't access their link she had no real way of knowing what B'Elanna was thinking, but eventually let her body mold itself to B'Elanna's.

B'Elanna very slowly started to feel like she was getting back in control as she slipped her tongue into Seven's mouth and her hands began to roam over Seven's body.

Finally breaking the kiss B'Elanna leaned her head back as she finally started to feel like herself again.

Seven was finally able to feel the mental link again to her relief as she leaned down to kiss B'Elanna once more tenderly. "You scared me." She said as she broke the kiss.

"I know," B'Elanna said as she remembered exactly what had happened when she had lost control. It wasn't something that she ever wanted to happen again.

"I think they're alright now." The doctor said as it looked like B'Elanna had calmed down. "But they still need to maintain physical contact."

"Can Seven at least cover up?" Janeway asked as she noticed the looks on Chakotay and Trelby's faces as they stared at Seven.

The doctor agreed as he noticed Chakotay and Trelby as well, taking out an emergency blanket and tossed it to Seven and B'Elanna. It probably wasn't safe to get too close there still wasn't any way to tell how either of them would react.

B'Elanna looked up as something landed beside her, looking further into the room she realized that she and Seven weren't alone, and all of them could see Seven!

A flash of anger passed over her as she saw the way that Trelby and Chakotay were looking at Seven. No one was allowed to look at Seven like that let alone see her naked besides her.

B'Elanna quickly unfolded the blanket and wrapped it around Seven as they stood up, standing in front of Seven and keeping Chakotay and Trelby from looking at her.

"Seven, B'Elanna are you feeling alright?" The Captain asked carefully. She had never seen B'Elanna act the way that she just did.

"We're better now." B'Elanna said keeping Seven close.

"Not quite," Chakotay said as he moved to stand beside the Captain. "Trelby you are dismissed," Chakotay ordered him to leave.

When Trelby had left reluctantly, trying to get one last glance at Seven before the door closed.

"You assaulted a senior officer Lieutenant," Chakotay glared at B'Elanna. "That's something that could you result in a court martial." He said with a cold smirk.

Janeway felt a migraine coming on as she heard what Chakotay had said. She knew that letting B'Elanna hit Chakotay had set a dangerous president, and it was probably something that was going to end up biting her in the ass but she hadn't thought it would be so soon.

"Of course I can think of a way we can avoid all that," Chakotay said predictably, never taking her eyes off B'Elanna. "If I could have the same leeway that B'Elanna was given then maybe we can avoid fracturing the ship's loyalties." Chakotay used Janeway's words.

"It was my fault this happened." Seven said as she stepped out from behind B'Elanna, holding the blanket around her. "If I had not lost control of my emotions B'Elanna would never have reacted the way that she did."

"This was because of the organisms." The doctor said stepping. "B'Elanna didn't have any control over what she was doing."

"Don't try that with me Doctor. Lieutenant Torres was in perfect control of herself when she hit me. It was only after the fact that she lost control." Chakotay said which was surprisingly observant of him.

"You may strike me in retaliation for B'Elanna hurting you." Seven said as she stepped forward and closed her eyes, waiting for the punch.

Seven let out a sharp gasp as she was pulled back against B'Elanna's body, instead of being struck by Chakotay and felt B'Elanna's hand hold her firmly in place.

"You are NOT going to let anyone hit you Seven." B'Elanna snapped. "I forbid it, do you understand?" B'Elanna asked, angry that Seven would put herself it that situation.

"Yes B'Elanna," Seven said softly, knowing that it was a direct order. She had never seen B'Elanna this angry with her before, even before everything had started.

Chakotay actually felt relived himself. He didn't really want to hit Seven either, if anything he owed Seven for not letting B'Elanna make things even worse for him when she hit him the first time.

"Then what do you suggest Lieutenant?" Chakotay snapped. He just wanted to get back at her.

"Court martial me then," B'Elanna said angrily. "Because I'm not going to let you hit me either."

Janeway felt her migraine get even worse. There really wasn't any easy way to fix this, and she knew that a court martial definitely wasn't going to help things.

"Is there anything else that you want?" Seven asked carefully. She hoped that there was something else that could sway him.

"Seven," B'Elanna warned. She didn't like the idea of Seven putting herself in the middle of this. "I'm serious. No games, no tricks. I want you to stay out of this."

Seven nodded, knowing that B'Elanna wasn't willing to let her do much else.

"Well since I don't have anymore replicator or holodeck rations for the next three months I want yours, transferred to me every month for three months." Chakotay smirked, realizing that he could completely negate his own punishment, and make B'Elanna suffer in the process.

B'Elanna growled as she heard Chakotay's ultimatum. It would be like he wasn't even punished at all, and the punishment was transferred to her, not to mention the fact that Seven had just offered to allow Chakotay to punch her out.

After a long pause of B'Elanna and Chakotay staring each other down B'Elanna finally relented. "Fine," she said angrily. "Come on Seven, we're leaving." B'Elanna said as she kept one arm around Seven's waist as she led her out of the room.

Everyone that saw B'Elanna and Seven as they walked down the corridors stayed well out of their way. The look on B'Elanna's face was enough to make anyone take a step back.

Finally when B'Elanna and Seven reached their quarters B'Elanna locked the door and went to get herself a drink.

Seven stood by the door, not really sure what to do. She had seen B'Elanna mad, being the cause of it on more than one occasion. This was different though, B'Elanna wasn't acting the way that she usually did when she was mad.

"B'Elanna?" Seven called out carefully, not wanting to upset B'Elanna any further, especially since she wasn't quite sure what B'Elanna was even upset about.

B'Elanna returned a moment later with a pint of Romulan ale in her hand, which she had already finished half of.

"I thought that your replicator rations were transferred to Chakotay." Seven stated calmly.

"I replicated it before the Captain transferred my replicator rations to Chakotay." B'Elanna said in an even tone.

"B'Elanna, what have I done to upset you?" Seven asked, getting to the point.

Those words seemed like all it took to get B'Elanna started again. She slammed her mug onto the table, sending her ale flying in all directions and marched up to Seven, until their noses were almost touching.

"What did you just say?" B'Elanna asked, not believing that Seven had no idea why she was so mad.

"I... I asked you why you were upset with me." Seven said, again not knowing how to deal with B'Elanna. It seemed that when she got angry she also blocked out the link.

B'Elanna grabbed a hold of the blanket that Seven was using to cover herself and ripped it away from Seven, letting it drop to the floor.

Seven carefully took a few steps back until she felt the wall pressing against her back. Whatever she did to make B'Elanna angry seemed to be getting worse.

B'Elanna stepped towards Seven again until her chest pressed against Seven and placed her hands against the wall on either side of Seven's head as she glared down at her.

Seven observed the positions they were in, B'Elanna in full uniform and herself completely naked. She understood what B'Elanna was doing. It was a way of asserting dominance, by taking away her clothes in this situation while remaining fully dressed B'Elanna wanted her to feel vulnerable.

Knowing this unfortunately did not help Seven because she was sure that even if she did have clothes on she would be feeling intimidated now. With B'Elanna's added height, and her greater physical strength she would appear intimidating to anyone on the ship.

"What do you think you did that could have upset me?" B'Elanna asked giving Seven a hard glare. She wasn't going to go easy on Seven, no matter how much she wanted to.

Seven quickly thought over their entire meeting with Chakotay and the Captain. B'Elanna had gotten angry after she had offered to allow Chakotay to strike her in retaliation, but she wasn't quite sure why that had upset B'Elanna.

Chakotay would have only been able to leave superficial damage, her nano probes and reinforced skeletal structure would have stopped her from getting any more than a split lip, which was easily repairable with a dermal regenerator.

It was actually more likely that Chakotay would have hurt his hand. The look of confusion must have shown on Seven's face because B'Elanna finally decided to answer her.

"You put yourself in danger and you did something you knew that I wouldn't like." B'Elanna said without moving or breaking eye contact.

"Chakotay could never have damaged me seriously. It is more likely that he would have injured himself." Seven said persistently.

"I don't want you hurt seriously or otherwise." B'Elanna said. "I care about what happens to you Seven. After what I did to Chakotay because he made you cry what do you think I would have done if he made you bleed?" She asked.

Seven blinked as she realized what she had done. She had never considered it that way before. "I apologize, I was wrong to try and put you in that situation." Seven admitted.

B'Elanna and Seven stood their silently. For Seven the seconds crawled by, she couldn't tell what B'Elanna was feeling, or even how she was taking her apology.

B'Elanna struggled with her emotions. On the one hand she was still angry at Seven for being so surprisingly short sighted. On the other hand she did have an extremely beautiful woman naked and pressed up against her. There was also the fact that emotions she was feeling right now were artificial, something that the organisms inside both of them had done.

B'Elanna finally decided what to do. Reaching behind Seven's head she removed the pins holding Seven's hair in place and watched as it cascaded down Seven's back.

B'Elanna ran her fingers through Seven's hair as her gaze softened. She gently pulled Seven's head towards her as she claimed Seven's lips in a kiss. Seven returned the kiss and parted her lips to allow B'Elanna's tongue to probe her mouth.

The kiss deepened as B'Elanna wrapped her free arm around Seven's waist, bringing their bodies closer together.

Seven felt her body conform to B'Elanna's as she felt the material of B'Elanna's uniform press against her naked skin, and B'Elanna's arm held snugly against her waist.

Seven placed her hands on B'Elanna shoulder as B'Elanna finally broke the kiss. She leaned back slightly as B'Elanna still kept a firm hold on her waist, using her arms to push back slightly so that she could see her.

"Are you still mad at me?" Seven asked after a moment. B'Elanna still hadn't said anything yet.

"Yes." B'Elanna admitted. "But part of it is because you challenged me, the organisms made me the dominant one, and when you challenged that it made me have to re-assert it."

B'Elanna led Seven back to the sofa and sat down with Seven straddling her. She pulled Seven close, wrapping one arm around Seven's waist. Seven leaned down, her head resting on B'Elanna's shoulder.

"What is the other part of the reason?" Seven asked softly.

"You knew that I wanted you to stay out of it." B'Elanna accused.

"I did." Seven admitted. She could easily feel it through their link.

"You know I don't like giving your orders anymore Seven. Why did you do it?" B'Elanna asked.

"I thought that I could help." Seven said.

"Seven, what happened with Chakotay wasn't something that you could stop. We've been butting heads for a while now. He wanted to get back at me for what I did to him."

"I see that now." Seven confessed. The way Chakotay handled everything. it had nothing to do with being fair. It was all planned out. He wanted to negate his own punishment, and punish B'Elanna.

Seven and B'Elanna's conversation was cut short by the chime ringing. "Who is it?" B'Elanna called.

"It's the doctor. I need to speak with you." The doctor said urgently.

B'Elanna pulled the blanket off the sofa and draped it over Seven as she turned sideways so that she could see the doctor as well.

"Come in," B'Elanna called when she was sure that Seven was covered up.

The doctor walked in quickly and got a look at Seven and B'Elanna. "Good, you're both… anyway I was doing some research and I think I've figured something out about how things got out of hand so quickly."

"Seven and I were separated for too long." B'Elanna said. "What else was there?"

"I was studying the design of your bio-suits Seven, and I think that I've figured out part of the problem." The doctor said. "Any part of your body that is covered by your bio-suits is unable to make a connection with B'Elanna. That's why B'Elanna had to tear it off." He explained.

"So what happens now?" B'Elanna asked. "Does Seven just stop wearing them?"

"Unfortunately that isn't possible either." The Doctor said. "Seven's implants need to be protected from Voyagers systems. Constant exposure could result in several of Seven's implants to fail."

"I don't get it. There was Borg on this ship before, nothing like that happened to them." B'Elanna said.

"The other Borg on Voyager used the alcoves as well as external implants to protect them." Seven explained.

"How do Voyager's systems affect Seven's implants?" B'Elanna asked curiously.

"My implants must receive signals on certain frequencies, which are universally better in space." Seven explained. "Most species operate their vessels in this range of frequencies. My implants receive theses signals, as well as the ones I send. Prolonged exposure will cause the implants programming to freeze."

"How does the bio-suit protect you?" B'Elanna asked. She had never thought of it as a piece of technology before.

"My bio suit resets my implants, clearing the memory buffer and stopping the implants from being jammed by conflicting signals." Seven said.

"What about when you don't where the bio-suit Seven? You've gone for hours without wearing it at a time. Has anything happened to you that you haven't told me about?" B'Elanna asked.

"No, when I am not aboard space vessel the likelihood of those same frequencies being used in my proximity are very low. The time needed for the build up to reach dangerous levels is also increased." Seven responded.

"What about when you're aboard Voyager?" B'Elanna asked.

"As long as I wear my bio-suit for at least six hours a day it will not cause a problem." Seven replied.

"Would the material from the bio-suits affect me in any way?" B'Elanna asked as an idea began to form in her head.

"No," the doctor replied. "The suit has absolutely no effect negative or otherwise on a completely organic person." The doctor wondered where B'Elanna was going with this.

"So if we replaced the bed sheets and re-upholstered the furniture would it protect Seven from Voyager's systems?" B'Elanna asked.

"The bed sheets would help Seven, but the furniture wouldn't have any effect. Seven has to be completely covered by the material or it doesn't work." The doctor explained.

"How long until the bed sheets can be created?" B'Elanna asked.

"I'll start on it today." The doctor promised. "I should have them ready tomorrow." The doctor said as he left.

When the doors closed Seven moved back to her original position and straddled B'Elanna's lap as B'Elanna leaned back into the sofa.

After a few moments B'Elanna couldn't help herself and tugged on the blanket. It fell of Seven's shoulder and pooled around her waist.

There was no doubt about Seven was sexy, B'Elanna thought. She always knew that Seven was good looking, but hadn't realized quite how good looking until recently. Now that she thought about it Seven turned her on when she was barely doing anything. Sometimes all it took was a look.

B'Elanna wondered how she would control herself as time went by. If what the doctor said was true her desire for Seven would only get more intense.

Seven leaned down and rested her head on B'Elanna's shoulder and closed her back as she felt B'Elanna's hand on her back. She had never felt this way about anyone before. She knew it wasn't real, but she couldn't deny the desire that she felt for the older woman.

* * *

To Be Continued… 


	8. Painful Emotions

To The Winner

Chapter Eight

* * *

_Seven leaned down and rested her head on B'Elanna's shoulder and closed her eyes as she felt B'Elanna's hand on her back. She had never felt this way about anyone before. She knew it wasn't real, but she couldn't deny the desire that she felt for the older woman. _

* * *

B'Elanna woke up the next morning with Seven in her arms. It was actually a feeling that she found herself looking forward to more each day, especially since she found herself waking up a little earlier than Seven now.

She really enjoyed the fact that she could see Seven this way, a part of the younger woman that the rest of the ship wasn't allowed to see. This was when she was at her most relaxed, most vulnerable.

This part of Seven evoked a desire in B'Elanna that she had honestly never felt before. It was something that was getting harder, and harder to fight.

B'Elanna let go of Seven and gently rolled her onto her back, so that she could see her face. She traced her fingers down Seven's face before leaning down and kissing her.

Seven woke up the second that she felt B'Elanna's kiss. She parted her lips, allowing B'Elanna to explore her mouth as she kissed her back.

"Good morning B'Elanna," Seven said as B'Elanna broke this kiss.

"Morning Seven," B'Elanna said as she smiled down at her.

"Will I wake up like this every morning?" Seven asked curiously. She had enjoyed it.

"If you're good," B'Elanna responded as she kissed her again. "But just wait to see what I'll do when you're bad." She winked.

"Come on, I think we need a shower." B'Elanna said as she helped Seven get out of bed.

When B'Elanna brought Seven into the washroom she noticed that it was considerably smaller than the one on the island.

B'Elanna didn't seem to notice as she pulled Seven under the shower with her and turned it on, causing Seven to yelp from the sudden burst of cold water and try to step back.

B'Elanna was ready for it however as she wrapped her arms around Seven holding her in place. "Just give it a second."

"It is cold." Seven said as she tried to get out of B'Elanna's grip. She could feel her nipples becoming hard under the cold spray.

Finally the water did start to warm up, and Seven stopped trying to break B'Elanna's grip as she relaxed under the warm spray of water.

After a few minutes B'Elanna turned down the spray of the shower and reached for some body wash and a sponge. After spraying some onto a sponge she rubbed it against Seven's body.

Seven felt the sponge rub against her body in a smooth circular motion. It moved across her breasts, stomach and arms before B'Elanna turned her around. The sponge then moved down her neck, across her back, and finally rubbed up and down her ass for a long moment.

Seven then watched as B'Elanna knelt down and rubbed every inch of her legs with a sponge as well.

Seven took the sponge from B'Elanna and repeated the process for her. She marveled at how strong and hard B'Elanna's muscles were now. She supposed they had to be, considering how strong she was now. There was almost no fat on her body now, only lean muscle.

When Seven was finished B'Elanna turned the shower back on to full blast. She couldn't help but watch as the soap washed off of Seven's body, the water giving her body a sexy sheen.

B'Elanna leaned forward as the last of the soap was washed off their bodies and kissed Seven deeply.

Seven wrapped her hands around B'Elanna's neck as she felt B'Elanna's hands slide down her back and caress her ass. As they continued to kiss B'Elanna's tongue entered Seven's mouth and her hands slowly began to knead her ass.

As the kiss stretched on into minutes Seven completely gave into the sensations, and relaxed completely to B'Elanna's ministrations.

B'Elanna didn't want to, but she knew she had to stop. It went on too long as it was already. She had to remind herself over and over again that the feelings they were having weren't real, no matter how good it felt.

B'Elanna very reluctantly ended the kiss, sucking on Seven's bottom lip as they broke apart before finally releasing her lip, and turning off the shower.

"Come on Seven," B'Elanna said as she led her away from the shower to the towels.

B'Elanna pulled a towel off the rack and dried Seven off before doing the same for herself. "Wait for me in the living room." She instructed. "I'm just going to get dressed. I'll bring out your uniform to you when I'm done."

Seven nodded as she left the washroom, leaving B'Elanna to stare at her ass as she walked out.

Seven walked into the kitchen, and went about getting breakfast ready. She knew that by now all of B'Elanna's replicator rations for the next three months had been transferred to Chakotay. Fortunately for B'Elanna Seven had quite a few saved up.

She replicated a bowl of fruit for herself, and a stack of banana pancakes with maple syrup for B'Elanna.

A soon as she sat down to eat B'Elanna walked out, holding a fresh biosuit for her. She was annoyed slightly to find that it was yet another white biosuit.

"What's all this?" B'Elanna asked as she wondered how Seven was able to replicate the food.

"The commander only received your replicator rations." Seven explained.

"Still sticking to fruit?" B'Elanna asked as she sat down in front of the pancakes.

"I enjoy fruit." Seven pointed out.

"When I get my replicator rations back I'm going to teach you all about food." B'Elanna promised.

"B'Elanna, you may have my rations if you wish." Seven offered. She never really used most of her rations anyway. She already had quite a few saved up anyway.

"Those rations are yours," B'Elanna denied. "You saved them up, it wouldn't be right for me to just take them.

"I am yours B'Elanna." Seven reminded her. "By extension everything I have is also yours."

B'Elanna wanted to deny it. She had been ever since all of this started, but she was beginning to realize what Seven said was true. Last night was a perfect example of that. In fact anytime she lost control of her emotions she seemed to reinforce the fact that Seven belonged to her.

"I'm sorry Seven." B'Elanna said with a sigh.

"It is not you fault." Seven said as she sat down in her lap and hugged her.

"Yes it is," B'Elanna said as she wrapped her arms around Seven. "You shouldn't belong to anyone."

"I do not blame you." Seven replied.

"You should get dressed Seven." B'Elanna changed the subject as she let go of her. "We have to get to the morning meeting."

Seven nodded as she picked up the uniform and unfolded it, wondering how long B'Elanna would keep choosing her clothes for her.

B'Elanna couldn't help herself as she watched Seven pull on the snug biosuit. When Seven bent over to pull up the biosuit over her legs she had an incredible urge to take her right there. It took all of her will power to stop herself.

As Seven pulled the biosuit up her thighs it just touching her ass before her arms froze. As hard as she tried she just couldn't move them any further. She turned around to face B'Elanna, wondering why she stopped her.

"B'Elanna?" Seven questioned. Wondering why B'Elanna wasn't letting her get dressed.

B'Elanna couldn't stop herself this time as she stood up. Seven just looked too good with the biosuit hugging the bottom of her ass and stopping just before her cunt.

B'Elanna pulled Seven into her arms and kissed Seven, pushing apart her lips as she explored her mouth with her tongue as her arms roamed over Seven's body.

B'Elanna pulled Seven down with her, landing on the sofa as Seven came to rest on top of her.

"B'Elanna…," Seven said as she tried to get B'Elanna's attention before B'Elanna claimed her lips again. Something about the way that B'Elanna kissed her seemed much more possessive than before, almost demanding.

B'Elanna didn't seem to hear her as her hands moved down Seven's back cupping her ass.

"B'Elanna," Seven said more urgently as she tried to twist herself out of B'Elanna's grip, only half succeeding as she was able to turn herself on her side in B'Elanna's lap before she felt B'Elanna's grip on her tighten.

Seven felt B'Elanna reach out, stroking her breast, then trailed her fingers down her stomach and finally placing her hands between her legs.

"B'Elanna… please," Seven begged before B'Elanna kissed her again. "No," Seven said as she tore her lips away from B'Elanna.

Her legs had become tangled in the biosuit, making it difficult for her to move out of B'Elanna's grip.

B'Elanna couldn't hear a word Seven said, the need to have her had completely taken over. It was as if all other conscious thought had left her.

"Do not do this," Seven pleaded as she felt B'Elanna squeeze her cunt, as she struggled again to get herself out of B'Elanna's arms. She just wasn't ready for this yet.

As hard as Seven tried, even with her Borg arm it wasn't enough. Tears started to stream down her face as she realized that she couldn't stop B'Elanna, giving up completely as B'Elanna's fingers brushed against her outer lips.

B'Elanna gasped as she felt a sudden wave of sadness and despair fill her, bringing her back to reality, but it wasn't her own sadness she was feeling. She looked down at Seven and it all rushed back to her.

"Oh god Seven," B'Elanna let her go, realizing what she had almost done. She couldn't ever bring herself to say the words.

Seven scrambled off her lap, falling off the sofa in her rush to put some distance between them as she continued to cry, curling herself into a ball.

"Seven, I…" B'Elanna just didn't know what to say taking a step towards her, stopping immediately when she saw Seven flinch.

"Please… please, stay back." Seven begged.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry Seven," B'Elanna said as she began to cry herself. She couldn't believe what she had almost done as she fell back onto the sofa heavily.

Seven and B'Elanna didn't know how much time they spent like that. Each of them lost, in what had almost happened. Finally the silence was broken by the chirp of B'Elanna's badge.

"Captain Janeway to Lieutenant Torres," Janeway said sounding a little irritated.

"…B'Elanna here," B'Elanna responded after a long pause.

"Will you and Seven be joining us for the morning meeting?" Janeway asked, having no idea what had almost happened.

"No Captain," B'Elanna said. "Please continue without us."

"What happened B'Elanna?" Janeway asked, now worried.

"Please Captain, just start the meeting without us," B'Elanna implored.

"Alright," Janeway relented. "But as soon as the meeting is over, I'm coming down there, and you will tell me what's going on."

"Yes Captain," B'Elanna agreed reluctantly as she closed the link.

"Seven?" B'Elanna called out. "Can I please come over there?" She asked tentatively.

"You can do whatever you wish B'Elanna." Seven said quietly. She had stopped crying a few minutes ago.

"Oh… okay Seven." B'Elanna said as she slowly approached Seven. She had never heard Seven sound like that before. It actually scared her, to hear Seven sound like that. It was like she had given up.

B'Elanna knelt down beside Seven. If Seven even noticed her she didn't have any outward reaction.

"I'm so sorry Seven," B'Elanna said trying to find the words. "I didn't mean to… I never wanted this to happen."

"I know." Seven replied simply.

B'Elanna didn't know how to react to the way that Seven was acting. Their conversation was so one sided.

"Seven, can I please just hold you?" B'Elanna asked. "I promise I won't do anything else."

"You do not need my permission." Seven replied. B'Elanna could do anything she wanted to her, and she knew she couldn't stop her. In fact if B'Elanna wanted she could even make her help her do it. B'Elanna had more control over her than even the Borg Queen. It was only know that she fully understood what that entailed.

"Ok… I'm just going to take you back to the sofa, okay Seven?" B'Elanna asked.

"Yes B'Elanna," Seven replied quietly.

B'Elanna didn't say anything as she picked Seven up and carried her back to the sofa, and sat her down in her lap on her side.

"Your legs are stuck in your biosuit," B'Elanna observed. "…Do you want me to get it untangled for you?" She asked carefully.

"If you want," Seven said.

"Ok…" B'Elanna said as she untangled the biosuit from Seven's legs and pulled it off.

B'Elanna wrapped one arm snugly around Seven's waist, and kissed Seven's temple before lowering Seven's head to her shoulder. "I'm…. I'm really sorry Seven." B'Elanna repeated.

"You have already said that." Seven said dully.

"I know." B'Elanna replied quietly as she rested her cheek on Seven's forehead and wrapped her other arm around Seven's waist.

They stayed like that, in an uncomfortable silence for a long time. B'Elanna didn't know what else to say, and Seven didn't really want to say anything.

"Do… do you want to talk about it?" B'Elanna finally asked. She just couldn't stand the silence.

"…I will not try to stop you again." Seven said seriously.

"What?" B'Elanna asked, not believing what she had just heard.

"I am your possession. I have no right to stop you from doing anything you wish with me." Seven explained.

B'Elanna didn't know what to say. Seven belonged to her, she had already admitted that. "It will be over in a year."

"It will never be over. I will always be a possession, if not yours, then someone else's." Seven said feeling completely defeated. "Please just take what you want now."

"Seven, you're upset right now. You don't mean any of that." B'Elanna said feeling worried for Seven. She had never seen her like this before.

"I just want it to be over." Seven said as she took one of B'Elanna's hands that were wrapped around her waist and placed it over her crotch.

As B'Elanna's fingers touched the smooth soft skin of Seven's cunt she almost lost control again. The only thing that stopped her was the intense sadness she felt from Seven.

"No," B'Elanna said as she pulled her hand away with extreme difficulty. "I won't let it happen this way."

"I am begging you B'Elanna." Seven said as she took B'Elanna's hand again. "Please do this. I just want it to be over."

"No Seven," B'Elanna said as she took her hand out of Seven's grip. "When you loose your virginity it should be special, it should mean something." B'Elanna tried to explain.

When Seven tried to take B'Elanna's hand again she was ready. She wrapped both her arms around Seven, pinning Seven's arms to her chest. She could feel Seven struggling to break her grip but she didn't let go.

Finally Seven stopped struggling as she began to sob. "It's going to get better. I promise." B'Elanna's said as she kissed Seven's forehead.

B'Elanna held Seven and let her cry. She knew that Seven needed this.

It was almost half an hour before Seven stopped sobbing, and just lay in B'Elanna's arms. She was just too exhausted emotionally to do anything else.

B'Elanna was brought back to reality when she heard the door chime. It was probably the Captain, wanting to know what was going on.

B'Elanna quickly took the blanket that was draped over the couch and wrapped it around Seven to cover her up. "Come in," she called when she was sure that Seven was covered up.

"What happened?" Janeway asked as she came in. "Seven, have you been crying?" She asked as she got a look at Seven.

"Something that we were both afraid would happen almost did." B'Elanna said, unable to bring herself to explain fully.

"Are you both alright?" The Captain asked. She wasn't told about everything that had happened to Seven and B'Elanna, most of it having fallen under doctor patient confidentiality.

"…No." B'Elanna admitted as she wondered how she was going to explain this.

"When the doctor explained what happened to us there were a few things we didn't find out initially." B'Elanna started to explain. "The connection we have is more than physical."

"What are you talking about?" Janeway asked. This was the first she was hearing of this.

"The organisms inside us are manipulating our emotions." Seven spoke quietly.

"They're making us attracted to each other," B'Elanna explained. "And I don't have the kind of emotional control that Seven does."

Janeway's eyes widened as she considered what B'Elanna had just said. "You don't mean that…" she said as she looked between B'Elanna and Seven. "Please tell me that it didn't happen." She said as her heart broke for Seven and B'Elanna.

"It didn't happen." B'Elanna said to the visible relief of Janeway. "But it will, neither one of us can stop it forever."

"Isn't there something that the doctor can do to manage this?" Janeway asked. She couldn't believe that in this day an age there wasn't something that could be done medically to fix this.

"No, the doctor is only just capable of following what the mutated organisms have done." Seven explained. "The organisms have become too unpredictable. They have already proven to be resilient to all known cures. By the time a cure can be found the organisms will have already run their course."

The Captain sat down heavily in the chair beside them. She didn't know what to do. There was no solution to it, or really even anyone to blame about it. "What do you want to do?" She finally asked.

"There isn't anything we can do." B'Elanna said sadly. "There isn't a way to stop it."

"Do you need a few days off to figure things out?" Janeway asked. "I can have the doctor put you both on medical leave for a couple of days." She offered.

"It isn't going to make a difference." B'Elanna replied. "Time off isn't going to help anything."

"What do you think Seven?" The Captain asked. She had noticed that Seven had said very little since she got there, leaving B'Elanna to do most of the talking.

"I will do as B'Elanna wishes," Seven said without looking up. She just felt emotionally exhausted now.

"Seven, you have a choice," The Captain admonished. "Your opinion is just as important as anyone else's."

"Yes Captain," Seven replied in a monotone voice, making it obvious that she didn't share the same view as the Captain.

"We appreciate the offer Captain," B'Elanna said. "But I think it would be best if we just got to work."

"If you're sure that's what you want," Janeway said reluctantly.

"Seven still needs to get dressed, so I guess we'll be down to engineering in about twenty minutes." B'Elanna said.

"Yes, of course," the Captain said as she stood up, just realizing that Seven was naked under the blanket. "I have to get back to the bridge." She said feeling flustered.

* * *

It was almost twenty minutes later that B'Elanna led Seven into engineering, holding her hand.

"Carey, I'm going to be going over my reports in my office," B'Elanna said as she led Seven into the office.

B'Elanna pulled out a couple of data pads, and sat Seven down in her lap as she began to look them over. "I downloaded everything you need from astrometrics to this data pad. Just let me know when you need to use a data station."

"Yes B'Elanna," Seven said as she started working on the data pad that B'Elanna had compiled for her.

B'Elanna sighed sadly, Seven was upset and there wasn't anything she could do to fix it. All she could do was wait and hope that Seven felt better.

It was almost an hour later that Seven had finished. "B'Elanna, I require a data station." Seven asked softly.

"Sure Seven," B'Elanna said as she put down the data pad she was reading, and stood up with Seven.

B'Elanna took Seven to one of the unused data stations. "Seven I have to do a few things, will you be okay by yourself for a little while?"

"Yes B'Elanna," Seven said as she got to work on the data station.

B'Elanna nodded as she left engineering, she needed some time to think about what she was going to do, what she and Seven were going to do.

B'Elanna eventually found herself in the mess hall, looking out the window. She wasn't really sure how long she looked out the window, so she was surprised when she heard the voice behind her.

"Are you okay B'Elanna?" Tom asked carefully. He knew what had happened to Seven and B'Elanna, but he hadn't got a chance to speak to either of them yet.

"No Tom," B'Elanna answered truthfully, in fact things are pretty bad right now.

"Tell me about it." Tom said as he sat down at a table, motioning for B'Elanna to join him.

"…the connection that Seven and I have, it isn't just physical anymore." B'Elanna started to explain as she sat down.

"What do you mean?" Tom asked, concerned.

"It's evolving… our emotions are also being changed. They're making me fall for Seven, and Seven to fall for me. "B'Elanna explained.

"That's…" Tom trailed off. He really didn't know what to say to that. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know." B'Elanna said with a sigh. "Seven's better at controlling it than me though. I almost… I…"

"It's okay B'Elanna." Tom said as he held her hand. "This isn't your fault, its Chakotay's." He said as his eyes narrowed, thinking about the commander. It was like he was a different person now.

"No it isn't" B'Elanna agreed. "But Seven is the one that's paying for it."

"She isn't the only one." Tom pointed out. "Both of you have been hurt because of this."

"What am I going to do?" B'Elanna asked. "It's only a matter of time before I…it happens. It's going to be Seven's first time. She never going to forget this, she's never going to forgive me."

"…If it has to happen make sure it happens the right way." Tom finally said.

"What are you talking about?" B'Elanna asked, feeling confused.

"Make it special for her, so that when Seven remembers this it's a happy memory." Tom said. "You have to make her want this as badly as you do."

"I don't even know how to do this." B'Elanna said. "I've never been with a woman before. I'm going to be fumbling around just as much as Seven is." She pointed out.

"You're going to have to learn." Tom said. "Come on, it isn't like it's anything new. Lesbianism has been an accepted and common choice for a long time now." Tom added.

"But it wouldn't be real." B'Elanna pointed out. "We only feel the way we do because of what happened to us. This time next year, our feelings are suddenly going to change."

"Don't worry about what's going to happen, worry about what's happening now." Tom said comfortingly.

"It isn't that simple Tom." B'Elanna said.

"Isn't it?" Tom asked. "When all is said and done you both care about each other, and from what you've told me so far it's going to happen either way. Accept it, and make the best of it."

"You're right," B'Elanna finally said. It was that simple. What really mattered most was what was happening now. "Thanks Tom."

"Sure," Tom said as B'Elanna stood up.

"Tom, I know that we were…" B'Elanna started to say. She knew that she and Tom were working towards something, but never quite got the chance before.

"I know." Tom interrupted. "But things always kept getting in the way… If something happens between us it'll happen B'Elanna. We can't force it."

"Thanks Tom," B'Elanna repeated as she walked back to engineering, who would have thought that he could be so smart?

When B'Elanna got to engineering she looked around for Seven. She was only gone for about an hour, so she didn't start feeling anything beyond a mild headache.

Seven was still at a work station when B'Elanna found her. She walked up behind her, wrapping her arms around Seven's waist, and resting her chin on her shoulder. "How's it going Seven?"

"I am almost finished," Seven said, stiffening slightly.

"What are you working on anyway?" B'Elanna asked as she kissed Seven's cheek softly.

"It is a sensor scan of the next area of space we will cross on the way back to the Alpha quadrant." Seven explained.

"Do you have all of the data you need from the workstation?" B'Elanna asked.

"I am almost finished B'Elanna." Seven said as she continued to enter commands into the workstation.

"Ok Seven," B'Elanna said. "When you're finished, I'll be in my office." B'Elanna said as she let go of Seven.

"Yes B'Elanna," Seven agreed as she started to finish what she was doing.

B'Elanna had gone through a few more reports when Seven walked in. She didn't say anything as she moved to stand beside B'Elanna.

"Come here Seven," B'Elanna said as she pushed away from the desk so that Seven could sit down.

Seven didn't say anything as she sat down on B'Elanna's lap and put her data pad on the desk.

"I'm sorry about what happened Seven." B'Elanna said as she wrapped an arm around Seven's waist.

"I know B'Elanna. It is not your fault." Seven replied. She knew that B'Elanna couldn't be held responsible for what happened, it was inevitable. One way or another it was going to happen.

"I know that when this happens it's going to be your first time." B'Elanna continued. "I want it to be special for you. When it happens I want it to be with someone you're in love with."

"What are you saying B'Elanna?" Seven asked as she turned to look at her.

"I'm saying that I want you to love me Seven, as much as I love you." B'Elanna answered.

"But these feeling are not real." Seven pointed out. "In one year things will be the way they used to be."

"No Seven," B'Elanna denied. "Things will never go back to the way they used to be, too much has happened, and our feelings are real. Right now I love you, and I think that you'll love me back very soon too. Don't think about what's going to happen in a year, just think about what's happening now."

"…Right now I care about you very much B'Elanna." Seven said as she kissed B'Elanna's lips softly.

* * *

To Be Continued…


End file.
